


The Twins and The Stone

by deviantgumiho



Series: The Twins [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, Draco Malfoy Has a Sibling, Good Slytherins, Ron Weasley Bashing, Slytherin Harry Potter, im actually sorry about that but it must be done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26704648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deviantgumiho/pseuds/deviantgumiho
Summary: Philosopher's Stone rework but Harry is sorted into Slytherin and Hogwarts gains two Malfoys – as if one wasn't enough.
Series: The Twins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943383
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43





	1. INTRO

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!  
> I am delighted to post my very first work in the Harry Potter fandom and I have to confess that I'm feeling very nervous at the thought of finally adding a bit of me in a fandom that I've been part of most of my life. I've always wanted to do something as big as this rework but never felt confident enough to do it. Until now! I really hope I will be fit for the task at hand since it's Harry Potter we're talking about and yeah I hope you're here for the long ride!
> 
> This is the first part of a series that I hope will have seven installments. But before we begin, a little disclaimer!
> 
> **Disclaimer: The story follows the events of the original Harry Potter series. I do not own the characters nor the quotes that you will often come across in this work, as they belong to JKR. I'm not making any claims or gaining any profit from this work.**

5th June, 1980

Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

It was a calm night, the one in which it finally happened. 

A perfect half-moon in a clear sky full of stars, shined over the manor and the surrounding grounds and gardens, illuminating them in delicate light.

Most of the diamond-paned windows were dark – but there, behind the windows of the left wing, up on the second floor of the manor, Lucius Malfoy was anxiously pacing in front of closed intricately decorated double doors. Inside the room behind them, a group of Mediwitches and a Healer were flocking around Narcissa’s canopy bed, assisting her during the most important moment of the blonde witch’s life.

“I can see the head,” the Healer announced “keep pushing, Mrs. Malfoy”

A few more pushes later, the first desperate, wailing sounds echoed around the room, joining Narcissa’s own cries. She did it. Her first child made it into this world safely. 

But she couldn’t relax yet and once again, she pushed.

Narcissa was tired, she could feel her energy levels depleting, her surroundings getting fuzzier with every push she gave, the Healer’s voice sounded muffled to her ears. But she needed to do this, to bring her second child into the world.

Then, as clear as light itself, another desperate wail reached her ears and the blonde witch felt her whole body slump back into the soft mattress. Dazed and exhausted, Narcissa looked around her. Two of the mediwitches near her were quickly at work, while one of them had already started casting scouring charms on her bed, the other was muttering diagnosing charms on the blonde witch. 

“My children…” her voice came out meekly but soon after they were in her arms, already clean but still slightly upset. “My little angels” she cooed, her voice trembling from the strong emotions.

Just then, Lucius barged into the room, marching towards his wife and _their_ children.

“Congratulations, Mr. Malfoy. Perfectly healthy twins, a boy and a girl,” The Healer congratulated him from her spot at the feet of the bed, gesturing first towards the boy, cradled in Narcissa’s right arm, and the girl in the other “you must be really proud of your wife.”

“I’ll leave you two alone for now, we can discuss their registration afterward. Although every other data such as date and time of birth and weight have been already magically registered, we still need their names.” The old witch explained before trailing after her team of mediwitches and quietly closing the double doors behind her.

“Lucius,” Narcissa began, her voice heavy with emotion “look at our angels. Aren’t they beautiful?”

The blond wizard let down his regal mask and smiled down at his wife as he placed a kiss on her forehead, caressing her tousled hair with one of his hands – the other was, just as tenderly, caressing the twins’ heads, alternating between the two of them.

“They really are, Cissy.” he nodded. Lucius then moved to pick up his son, cradling him and letting a soft chuckle escape from his lips when he wrapped his tiny hand around the tall wizard’s index finger. He looked up to his wife with a proud smile, which was met with a matching one from her.

“You shall be named Draco, according to the tradition of the House of Black, your mother’s family,” Lucius smiled down at his son who was peeking at him behind heavy eyelids. The new Father was pleased to see he’d passed down the Malfoys’ signature ice grey eyes onto the child “and Lucius shall be your middle name, according to the tradition of our family, the House of Malfoy, to assign a patronymic as a middle name. Both your Mother and I, welcome you to this world and thank the Universe for blessing us with you and your sister.”

Narcissa smiled once again at the interaction between her husband and their son, before turning to her daughter, who had long quieted down and was curiously staring at her, her eyes as blue as her own.

“You’re just like a porcelain doll, my love,” she cooed softly as she caressed her daughter’s cheek “a beautiful little thing you are and I already pity all those broken hearts you’ll leave behind once you grow up” her smile reached her eyes, letting out a breathy giggle as she said so. 

“Our dearest daughter Cassiopeia Dorea, my beautiful Queen born under Castor and Pollux.” Narcissa chuckled softly “It is only right that I gave you great-aunt Dorea’s name, to honor both her and her brother, great-uncle Pollux Black.”

Lucius approached his wife with a sleeping Draco in his arms and sat beside her, holding her close with his free arm and making their foreheads touch.

And for a while they sat there, basking in the silent joy of the beginning of their new family life but in the privacy of her mind, Narcissa couldn’t help but feel dread slowly seeping through.

What would be of her children’s future in this world, when a vicious war was raging just outside the property boundaries?


	2. THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE LETTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So this is where we officially start our journey with the twins! I really hope you'll enjoy the chapter, I'm open to any suggestions and constructive criticism down in the comments!
> 
> New chapters will be uploaded on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

24th July, 1991

Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire

When the first sun rays filtering through the crack of the heavy curtains hit her face, Cassy scrunched up her nose and slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times while trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness of her own room.

She was in the middle of stretching when she realised what day it was and as soon as it hit her, she jolted off her bed.

“Holly!” she called out and with a soft crack, her house elf Apparated next to her.

“Good morning, young Mistress!” the house elf replied in a frilly voice as she opened the curtain with a wave of her tiny hands, allowing the light to gradually light the entire room up, revealing creamy whites and silver tones of the decor. “Holly hopes that young Mistress Cassiopeia had a good rest!”

“I did, thank you Holly” Cassy smiled softly at her “Do you know if my brother is up, yet?”

A slight frown appeared on Holly’s face as she shook her head, her ears flapping as she did “Holly does not know, young Mistress. Does young Mistress wanting Holly to check on young Master Draco?”

There was a mischievous glint Cassy’s eyes as she smirked. “No, I think I’ll see him myself.”

She grabbed her dressing gown from the feet of her bed and made her way out of her room.

As she opened the door, Holly’s voice resonated from behind her “Is young Mistress needing anything else?”

“No, you can go now Holly, thanks.” Cassy smiled before closing the door as Holly Disapparated once again.

It didn’t take her long before she reached Draco’s room, which was just next to hers down the hallway. Cracking open the door just enough to be able to peer inside, Cassy made sure that he was still asleep and slowly, she made her way inside. His room was pitch dark as Draco loved to keep his curtains tightly shut, but carefully, Cassy safely made her way up to the windows to the left of her brother’s bed.

When Draco grumbled as he turned to face the window, Cassy held her breath before quietly snickering to herself. 

“Oh, Dray. You make it so easy that only a fool would fail” she muttered.

Then she yanked the curtains open and the room was bathed in light, revealing dusty blue and warm golds. Cassy turned just in time to see Draco’s face scrunch up and disappear under the dusty blue duvet as he tugged it over his head.

“Wake up, sleepy head!” Cassy jumped on the other side of his bed, making sure that the mattress would bounce as much as possible.

“Go away, you annoying imp!” Draco’s sleepy protests sounded muffled from under the duvet “It’s too early to be awake.”

“For your standards, but for most wizards it’s already time to be out for work” she retorted as she grabbed one of the many pillows laying about “Get up now or face the consequences!”

“Well, I’m not most wi–” Draco started as he pulled down the duvet but before he could look properly at his sister, she smacked him with a pillow. “Ow! What’d you do that for!”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Cassy smirked smugly “I’ve told you to get up, you didn’t listen to me so now you face the consequences, dear brother.”

Draco narrowed his eyes and his upper lip curled in a snarl “Oh yeah? Well, now  _ you _ are going to face the consequences of disturbing my sleep.” 

Cassy jumped off the bed as soon as Draco reached out with his hand to grab her “Only if you can get me first, a Flesh-Eating Slug could be faster than you!”

She then stuck her tongue out and rushed for the door.

Once closed the door behind her, Cassy started walking briskly towards the marble staircase, only to start running as soon as she heard Draco running after her.

“I’ll make you regret what you did! Wait until I get you!” Draco shouted, his initial irritation already forgotten and already replaced with mirth.

Cassy turned her head only to laugh at her brother’s empty threats “Never!”

The manor had seen many generations of young Malfoy heirs roam around within its hallways but never had there been a pair like the twins.

Usually well poised and well behaved when in presence of adults, when left alone, the twins would reveal the true colours of their bond. Although a relationship full of constant bickering and pranks on one another, the two of them were two faces of the same coin. Always ready to tend to the other twin when one of them got hurt while playing or defending one another when playing with the kids of their parents’ friends, Cassy and Draco were attached by their hips

Individually, the twins were like the Sun and the Moon. Whereas Draco was more feisty and hot tempered, Cassiopeia was calm and collected. Draco liked to openly provoke and Cassy liked to be more subtle.

Except for minor details such as the colour of their eyes – Draco’s ice grey eyes opposed to Cassy’s blue ones like their mother’s – and the tiny beauty mark on Cassy’s left cheekbone, the two had equally pale skin and the Malfoys’ signature platinum blond hair.

After running down the staircase and past the portraits of past Malfoys that adorned the left wing hallway, which grumbled disapprovingly at their behaviour, the twins arrived in the dining room where both Narcissa and Lucius, who was reading the  _ Daily Prophet  _ at the head of the table, were already waiting for them.

At the sight of their parents, the twins quickly recollected themselves and went to sit at their father’s left, opposite from their mother.

“Good morning Father, good morning Mother” they greeted at the same time as the house elves started serving their breakfast.

Narcissa smiled lovingly at her children “Good morning my loves, I trust you’ve had a good sleep?”

“We did, Mother” Draco smiled before squinting his eyes and giving his twin side-eye “Or at least I did until  _ somebody  _ decided that it was good fun to break into my room and interrupt my rest.”

“You would’ve slept well into early afternoon if I hadn’t woken you up.” Cassy shrugged before sipping on her tea “Besides, have you completely forgotten what could arrive today?”

Lucius finally set down the newspaper and made to grab his cup of coffee “Whatever you mean, my dear?”

Cassy gave her parents a bewildered look as Draco frowned in thought before setting down his now empty goblet “How could I forget! Our Hogwarts letters! But Father if you already have your copy of the  _ Prophet  _ how come we haven’t gotten them yet?”

“Draco, Hogwarts doesn’t send their letters via ordinary post owls.” Lucius smirked before returning to the political section of the newspaper.

“What your father means, my angels is that you shouldn’t worry too much” Narcissa reached out across the table to get ahold of their hands, before glancing past their heads and smiling “In fact, your letters should be here soon enough.”

Just as their mother said that, two screeching owls flew through the open window and landed gracefully on the back of a chair next to Cassy. She untied the letters from both owls and offered them a piece of bacon each, which they nibbled gratefully before taking off again.

“Here” she said as she passed her brother his letter without looking.

“Brilliant” Draco smirked.

Cassy carefully opened the envelope and read the contents, her smile growing as she read down their first year’s list of books and equipment.

“It says here we’re to send an owl back no later than the end of this month.” Draco announced before skimming through his list.

“I’ll see that your confirmations are sent back on time, dear” Narcissa reassured them “We’ll certainly head to Diagon Alley around the end of this month as both your father and I are quite busy these days.”

“Thank you, Mother” Cassy smiled before returning to the list. Once she reached the end, she let out an exclamation “Dray, you better read the note at the bottom.”

“What- What?! But that’s so unfair!” Draco whined as he slumped in his chair as he watched his hopes to bring his broom to school get shattered by green ink on a parchment roll.

After all, first years were not allowed their own broom.


	3. THE TWINS MEET THE BOY WHO LIVED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we are with the second chapter! I'm actually uploading this chapter a bit late cause I got distracted and didn't look at the time (oops!) but i'll try to be on time for the third chapter! anyway, let's get to it, i hope you enjoy this one. again, feel free to comment, let me know what you think, i'm open to constructive criticism :D

31st July, 1991

Diagon Alley, London

Hidden to unknowing Muggle eyes, behind the Leaky Cauldron on Charing Cross, there was Diagon Alley, the go-to shopping street of the British Wizarding World. The cobblestoned alley was bustling with wizards and witches moving about up and down the street, in and out from the various shops that lined it.

To no one’s surprise, Diagon Alley was particularly busy that day. The rush for Hogwarts supplies was almost an yearly event around this time of the month, when the students and their families would assault the shops looking for books and other necessities for their upcoming school year.

As the entryway through the Leaky Cauldron recomposed itself behind them, Narcissa and the twins started making their way down the street.

“Try to stay close to me, my dears. We’re stopping by Gringotts first as I have to withdraw extra Galleons if we’re to stop by Fortesque’s later.” Narcissa said as held on Cassy and Draco.

Towering over the shops in its wonky marble structure down Diagon Alley, there was Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Run by Goblins, Gringotts was the safest place in the entire world where one could trust their valuables and money.

Narcissa didn’t take long withdrawing enough coins from her own vault and a couple of minutes later the twins were already on their way to Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions while their mother looked for their school books at Flourish and Blotts.

“Welcome dears, First Year uniforms I presume?” Madam Malkin greeted them as soon as they both stepped inside, before pointing them to two wooden stools to have their measurements taken.

Cassi was already done and waiting for Draco when the bell above the entrance door rang and a tiny boy walked in. He was there for his First year robes too.

Madam Malkin pointed him to the stool where Cassy was standing on a moment earlier and started working on him as well. 

Cassy silently studied the boy. No way he could be the same age as her and Draco. The boy had extremely messy black hair, which looked as though a tiny owl made its nest on his head. His tiny figure seemed to disappear inside baggy Muggle clothes that were no doubt five times his actual size. From his reflection in the mirror, Cassy could see that the boy was feeling lost and uncomfortable from the way he was trying to look around himself in the corner of his eyes.

Then the two suddenly met eyes through the mirror. Cassy’s blue eyes were met with a striking shade of emerald green behind a pair of poorly mended, round glasses.

The boy quickly looked away. Cassy looked at her brother’s reflection and saw that he too was looking at the other boy.

Draco was the first to break the ice.

“You’re going to Hogwarts too, right?” he asked.

“Yes...” the boy nodded “Are you guys first years too?”

“Yeah!” Draco smirked and Cassy saw the black haired boy visibly relax through his reflection.

“I’m Draco, by the way. Nice to meet you.” Draco turned slightly to hold out his hand, much to Madam Malkin’s disapproval “This is my twin, Cassy” he added, nodding in her way.

The boy stared for a moment at Draco’s hand before shaking it and introducing himself to the both of them “I’m Harry, nice to meet you too.” he smiled.

“So Harry, what house are you hoping to end up into? I already know I’m gonna get into Slytherin. You see, everybody in our family were Slytherins.” Draco smirked, proud of their family tradition.

“Don’t know much about my sister here, though. I bet she’s gonna end up in Hufflepuff.” he added snidely.

Cassy punched her brother on his shoulder and glared at him “Shut it, you jerk. Obviously I’ll be a Slytherin too. 

“So what about you, Harry?” she added, her glare completely gone only to be replaced by her usual friendly expression.

Harry seemed mildly confused by their question “I’m sorry but I… Er… I have no idea what houses are there…”

“You know, the four Hogwarts houses! Slytherin, which is the best of course, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!” Draco explained “Surely your parents must’ve told you about them?”

“Oh… I, er, I actually don’t have any parents…” Harry lowered his eyes, missing Cassy giving a look at her twin.

“Please, excuse my brother. He doesn’t always count to ten before speaking.” Cassy tried to fix the conversation, making a mental note to remind Draco not to always assume things.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. You wouldn’t have known about that.” Harry smiled “I grew up with some relatives, actually. I believe Hagrid called them Muggles.”

“Oh, so you’re a Muggle-born?” Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Er, no. Hagrid told me that both my parents were magical.”

“Interesting… Also, where have I heard about this Hagrid?” Cassy pondered and Draco quickly reminded her.

“The Hogwarts gamekeeper, remember? Father mentioned him sometimes during his meetings. Sometimes our Father doesn’t completely shut the door to his studio, so I may have overheard a thing or two.” Draco winked at Harry who snickered silently.

“That’s you done, dear” Madam Malkin announced after a while once she finished working on Harry, so he hopped off his stool and paid for his robes.

“I better get back to Hagrid now. It was nice meeting you two.” Harry smiled on his way out.

“It was the same for us, hopefully we’ll see each other again on the Hogwarts Express!” the twins waved.

“Sure, I hope so too!” Harry waved and walked out of the shop.

Cassy turned to her brother “Are you done yet? Mother is waiting for us so we can go buy our wands.”

“Style requires time, dear sister.” Draco drawled and Cassy rolled her eyes.

*****

“I expect you have both purchased your uniforms just fine?” Narcissa was waiting for them in front of Ollivander’s.

“We did, Mother and we also met a fellow first year too” Draco beamed as they made their way inside the shop.

“That’s wonderful, dear.” Narcissa smiled before peering down the narrow hallway between the heavily loaded shelves behind the counter “Mr Ollivander?”

The twins jolted slightly, startled, when Ollivander appeared suddenly from behind another shelf. “Twelve inches and three quarters, Black walnut, Dragon Heartstring, reasonably supple. Miss Narcissa Black, what a pleasure seeing you again, seems yesterday that you walked through those very doors for the first time.”

“It’s a pleasure seeing you too, Ollivander. While I fondly remember the day I got my wand, today I brought my twins, Draco and Cassiopeia, for their wands. They’re going to start their first year at Hogwarts next month.” their mother smiled politely as she stood behind them with her hands on their shoulders.

“I see, I see. Let’s start from you, Mr Malfoy. Hold out your wand arm for a moment, please.” Ollivander invited Draco to get closer to the counter before beginning to measure Draco’s arm in every possible way. He even measured him head to toe.

Then Ollivander disappeared behind the counter and pulled out a couple of wands for Draco to try out. After about ten wands, silver sparkles came out from the tip of the one in his hand. Draco excitedly beamed at his mother and Cassy.

“Ten inches, Hawthorn, Unicorn Hair, reasonably springy. Congratulations Mr Malfoy.” Ollivander smiled as he put away the rejected wands with a wave of his wand “Now, let’s see what I can find for Miss Malfoy.”

Cassy took a deep breath before stepping closer to the counter and having her measurements taken. Once again, Ollivander presented her with some wands to try out. She waved the first wand but nothing happened. The second one caused a flower pot to explode and the third one made an entire row of wand boxes fly from the closest shelf.

She was now about to try out her seventh wand and when she grabbed it, she felt a warm sensation wash over her from head to toe. Cassy finally smiled when the tip of her wand emitted faint golden sparks.

“Twelve inches and a quarter, Yew, Dragon Heartstring, Supple. That’s a powerful wand you have there, Miss Malfoy. Congratulations.”

“How much would it be?” Narcissa asked.

Ollivander quickly cleaned up the entire shop once again “Seven Galleons each so that would be Fourteen Galleons, Miss Black.”

Cassy clutched the box containing her very own wand close to her chest, as they made their way back to the Apparition point in the back of the Leaky Cauldron. She could feel the warm feeling from before radiating from the rectangular box in her arm.

She loved it made her feel and was now looking forward to Hogwarts more than before. She promised to herself that she would keep chasing that power she felt from her wand.

She wanted to be the most powerful witch of her year.

*****

1st September, 1991

Platform 9¾, King’s Cross Station

Today was the day. 

Cassy woke up earlier that morning feeling excited and was even more surprised to find Draco already awake when she barged into his room.

The train was scheduled to leave at eleven o’clock, so after a hearty breakfast and a thorough last check of their trunks, the twins descended to the foyer where their mother was already waiting for them. Both carrying their eagle owls, which were a surprise present from their father, inside their cages. 

“Have you checked that you haven’t left anything behind? You won’t be back home until Christmas break.”Narcissa reminded them as Tilly and Holly Apparated with the twins’ trunks in front of her, before casting a Featherlight Charm on them

“Everything’s inside our trunks, Mother.” Cassy assured her, resting the cage on her trunk.

“Father’s not coming with us?” Draco asked, looking back towards the staircase as he did the same, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Narcissa frowned imperceptibly. She too had hoped that Lucius would at least make an exception for his children’s first day. “Your Father had an important meeting at the Ministry,” she explained, watching the expressions on her children fall “but he’s told me he expects to hear from both of you once you’re both settled.”

“Yes, Mother.” the twins replied.

Narcissa Apparated with the twins on Platform 9 ¾ amidst a cloud of steam coming from the Hogwarts Express. As every other year, the platform was busting with students bidding farewell to their families before rushing to claim a compartment. Both Draco and Cassy looked at the red locomotive in front of them, amazed to finally see the train that their parents had so much spoken of when retelling stories of the school years. At the very front there was the small Hogwarts coat of arms and a plaque that read ‘ _Hogwarts Express_ ’.

Narcissa nudged them lightly as they moved away from the Apparition point “Don’t dawdle, my dears. Unless you wish to get stomped on by Apparating families.”

The twins followed Narcissa down the platform and stopped near one of the carriages. They still had time before boarding. Narcissa turned to hug both of them and placed a kiss on their foreheads. When she pulled away Cassy noted that her eyes were filling with tears.

“We’ll be back before you know it, Mother” Cassy smiled, assuring her mother.

“I know, but still, I can’t believe it’s happening” Narcissa pulled out her handkerchief and dabbed the corners of her eyes “My beautiful angels are already leaving for Hogwarts. It seems yesterday you had your first bout of Accidental Magic.”

“Really, Mother. You said it before, we’ll be back for Christmas and you’ll wish we didn’t.” Draco gave her a cheeky grin, earning a light pinch on his cheek from his mother.

“You both best be boarding now, there’s still a chance to find a compartment to yourselves.” Narcissa cleared her voice and composed herself. “Also, I had the house elves prepare you something for lunchtime in case you’d be hungry.” She added as she took out a tiny picnic hamper and returned it to its original size before handing it to Cassy.

“I’ll miss you so much, my loves. I expect to hear from both of you as soon as you’re settled too.” She smiled as she watched her two Eleven year olds board onto the train with their trunks behind them.

Cassy and Draco turned again and waved “We’ll miss you too, Mother!”

Once on the train, they moved down the narrow corridor, peering inside each compartment but most of them were already full. Eventually they stumbled upon one that wasn’t full yet as there was only a single boy inside.

“This one should be good.” Draco muttered as he slid open the door “Sorry, is this compartment occupied?” he asked.

The other boy turned and shook his head “Oh, no. It’s just me.”

Once the twins were settled inside, they both sat in front of the other boy. Cassy found herself studying him. Unruly black hair and green eyes, where has she seen him before? Then it suddenly dawned on her and at the same time, Draco nudged her. His eyes told her that he too remembered.

“Harry!” they both exclaimed, surprising the other boy in front of them “It’s us, do you remember?” Draco asked.

Harry frowned for a moment before his expression changed into one of recognition. “Draco! Cassy! I didn’t even realise it was you two!” he beamed.

Draco switched places and went to sit next to Harry as Cassy moved to the seat near the window, opposite from Harry.

“I told you we’d be seeing each other again on the train” Draco grinned.

“Yeah, you did.” Harry chuckled “So how have you been?”

The three of them then went on telling about their last month spent at home, without even noticing the train leaving the station.

During the trip, Harry told them how Hagrid had surprised him with Hedwig, his snow owl, after he met the twins and how Ollivander had unsettled him with a fact on his wand that he hadn’t really asked for.

Draco winced “He really is creepy, that Ollivander bloke. Cassy and I both jumped when he came out from behind a shelf without making noise when Mother called for him in his shop.” he recalled, causing Harry to stifle a snort “Seriously, one would think that guy loves frightening his customers.”

The three of them laughed at that before Cassy noticed something on Harry’s forehead.

She gave Harry a questioning look “Harry, what’s that on your forehead?” causing the other boy to jolt.

“It’s- it’s nothing really…” he fussed over his hair, trying to cover the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead but it was too late.

Draco squinted at Harry’s forehead at his twin’s question before his eyes went wide when he saw it “Merlin’s beard! You’re Harry Potter!”

Harry sighed “Yeah, it’s me…”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Cassy asked, slightly upset that their newly found friend would hide his identity from them.

“Because…” Harry began, looking at the twins before letting out a frustrated huff “Well, it’s exactly because of this! You’re both looking at me like I’m some kind of... _freak_ ”

At his words, the twins stared at each other before recomposing themselves. If Narcissa knew they were shamelessly gawking at someone like this… Cassy didn’t really want to find out.

“We’re sorry, Harry…” Draco cleared his throat “but still, why didn’t you tell us? I thought we were your friends!”

“Friends…?” Harry repeated, there was a strange light in his eyes.

“Yeah! I guess that by now we can consider ourselves as such!” Draco grinned as he slung his arm around Harry’s shoulders “Isn’t that right, Cass?”

Cassy was taken aback from the speed with which her brother recovered from the awkwardness of some moments before but nodded firmly nonetheless.

Harry relaxed and grinned at the twins, his smile growing more and more.

By noon, an elderly witch came by their compartment. “Anything from the trolley, my dears?”

Said trolley was full of wizarding sweets and pastries of any kind and the three beamed. Although the twins already had their lunch made from home in their picnic hamper, they purchased various sweets and candies from the trolley anyway. Once they were done, they had gotten enough to share between the three of them and more.

*****

“Dray, toss me that Chocolate Frog will you? Thank you.” Cassy quickly grabbed the box and began opening it carefully, more for the surprise of the card than to avoid the frog leaping out.

“What’s that?” Harry asked as he pulled a face after tasting a random Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean, causing Draco to snicker.

“Just a Chocolate Frog. As much as I like their chocolate, I’m more interested in the card” Cassy shrugged and watched as the frog hopped out the box and onto the seat next to her “They have collectible cards of famous wizards and witches, you see.”

She then fished out a card with a long bearded wizard in a purple and yellow starred pointy hat. “Just like this one. Oh bummer, I got Dumbledore again.” she frowned before catching the chocolate frog and eating it “You can have it if you want.”

Harry picked up the card and observed it “So this is Dumbledore the Headmaster, huh? Hagrid told me a lot about him, especially the fact that he was the one who left me on the Dursleys' doorstep.” 

Cassy picked up a slight edge in Harry’s tone towards the end but didn’t want to pry into it.

“Anyway, Harry, you really should get another pair of glasses. These ones are beyond ruined.” Cassy frowned at the state of her friend’s glasses, which hadn’t changed from how she saw them back at Madam Malkin’s.

Harry blushed and took off his glasses “Oh, yeah. They.. er.. Must’ve slipped my mind to change them”

Cassy sighed “Here, let me just… do this” she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Harry’s glasses “ _Oculus Re-_ ” but Cassy never got to pronounce the full charm, as the door slid open and the three turned their heads.

At their door stood a girl with bushy hair and a plump boy standing behind her, his face as red as the Hogwarts Express locomotive.

“We’re sorry to barge in like this but have you seen his toad? He lost it whilst boarding the train.” the girl nodded towards the boy behind her before assessing the scene in front of her “Oh! Are you doing magic? Let’s see.”

Cassy frowned slightly. _She hated being interrupted_. 

She focused back again on Harry’s glasses. “ _Oculus Reparo_ ” and like that, they were as good as new. 

“Brilliant!” Harry gasped before wearing his glasses again and thanked Cassy.

“Cassy’s formidable, she’s been practising non-stop her Spell Casting ever since we got our wands.” Draco explained proudly “At this point I’m sure she’s gonna end up in Ravenclaw, the swot. Speaking of which, Harry have you figured out in which house you’re going to get into?”

At that point, Cassy saw appropriate letting the newcomers sit with them.

“Well, I had enough spare time to pore over my new school books this past month and I also read more about Hogwarts, but at the end I don’t really have a preference. All of the Houses sound great in their own way.” Harry shrugged.

After a moment of silence Draco snorted “That was such a Hufflepuff thing to say.”

“What’s wrong with being a Hufflepuff?” Harry threw a questioning look around. Cassy shook her head and threw a Berty Bott’s Bean at her twin’s head before turning to Harry.

“Don’t mind him Harry. You’re right, each House is great in their own way.” she smiled before turning to the girl and boy sitting next to her “Also, I don’t think I caught your names…?”

The girl sat up straighter “Oh, I'm sorry. I’m Hermione Granger and this is Neville Longbottom.”

Neville waved as she introduced him.

“Do you happen to be related to Augusta Longbottom?” Cassy asked, recognising the family name from the list of the Twenty Eight Sacred her father had her memorise.

Neville blushed and nodded, “She’s my Grandma. I live with her.”

“Thought that name was familiar.” she nodded “Well, nice to meet you. I’m Cassiopeia Malfoy, but you can call me Cassy or Cass.” Cassy gestured towards her brother “This is my twin, Draco.”

Draco gave them a smirk and then nodded towards Harry “And this is Harry P-”

“Bloody hell!” a voice came from the doorway and everyone turned to see whose it was “You’re Harry Potter, aren’t you?”

A tall red haired boy was standing there, wide eyed and gaping as he stared at Harry. Both Draco and Cassy caught on Harry’s discomfort.

“Oh, I’m Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley” he introduced himself, completely ignoring Cassy’s death stare.

On the other hand, Hermione and Neville, they too were gawking at Harry but when they saw Draco slightly shaking his head, looking pointedly at his twin, they followed his gaze and noticed the look on Cassy’s face. They understood and blushed.

Cassy stood up and glared at Ron “Yeah, he is and what about it?! Also, didn’t you know that it’s inappropriate to barge into other people’s compartments without knocking.” She said haughtily, missing a reddening Hermione, as she had practically done the same.

“Moreover, you just interrupted a conversation and started shamelessly gawking at Harry. Can’t you see you’re making him uncomfortable?” Draco stood up too and joined his twin.

Ron frowned and looked at them up and down “Who are you?”

“ _We_ are Cassiopeia and Draco Malfoy and _you_ are invited to get out of this compartment this instant.” Cassy sneered.

Ron huffed as his features turned into a glare “Go figure, why doesn’t it come as a surprise that a Malfoy would start bossing people around as if they owned the place?”

Hermione and Neville looked back and forth between Cassy and Ron, feeling extremely out of place while being caught in the middle of a not so polite dispute.

“Seriously Harry, you should reconsider who you hang out with. They’re all Dark Wizards, the lot of them. The wrong sort.” Ron nodded towards the twins “But there’s still time! Come with me, I can introduce you to better people. There’s still space in our compartment and you two could come too!” he said as he turned to Hermione and Neville.

Harry didn’t really appreciate him judging his choice of friends, especially when the twins had been nothing but extremely nice to him and offering him their friendship after not even half a day spent together.

As for Hermione and Neville, they really didn’t believe that the twins were half as bad as Ron made them out to be. Plus they already had their own compartment.

Harry stood up and made his way towards the doorway. Cassy and Draco’s expressions fell.

Harry stopped in front of the beaming Ron and forced a smile “I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, _Weasley_ ”

He then slid the door closed, pulling the blind down on a fuming Ron Weasley on the other side, and turned to go sit at his place. When he looked around, everyone was gaping at him.

“What.”

“That was brilliant, Harry.” Draco smiled and sat down beside Harry.

“Not gonna lie, you had us for a moment” Cassy snorted before sitting down too.

“Well, now that the introductions are out of the way, shall we go back to talk about the Houses?” Hermione suggested and for the rest of the trip, they each shared stories about themselves, their expectations for the upcoming year, and shared the remaining sweets, which was still enough for the five of them.

After a while, a Prefect came into their compartment to warn them that in about twenty minutes they would be arriving and that they had best get changed into their uniforms. 

Hermione and Neville waved them goodbye and they went back to their compartment. Cassy retrieved her uniform and left the compartment to the boys while she headed to the nearest bathroom in order to get changed.

As they got closer and closer to Hogwarts, Cassy couldn’t help but feel her heart beating faster and faster.

She was looking forward to the first of the seven best years of her life.


	4. THE SORTING: A FAMILY TRADITION

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! the chapter of the sorting is finally here and with it, our first week together. i really hope you'll enjoy the chapter and i'm asking forgiveness to those of you who love Ron. i love him too but for the sake of this fic i have to write him like this – at least for now 👀 anyway, again feel free to comment, i'm open to everything. I'll see you next week!

1st September, 1991

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland

When the train arrived at the station around Seven in the evening, the sky was already dark.

The twins and Harry dragged their trunks and owl cages off the train and left them with the belongings of other first years.

Up ahead the platform, a giant man carrying a lamp, whom Harry pointed out to be Hagrid, was herding the first years to him. “Firs’-years! Firs’-years over here!” he bellowed and waved when he caught sight of Harry “C’mon, follow me! Firs’-years follow me and yer step!”

Hagrid let them down a narrow path that ended on the edge of the Black Lake, where a fleet of small boats waited for them. Hagrid instructed them to get on (“No more’n four to a boat!”) and Cassy hopped on one with Draco, Harry and Hermione.

“Everyone in? Right then, forward!” Hagrid bellowed once again and at his words, the boats started their glide on the black surface of the lake.

The crossing was silent as everyone was mesmerised by the view.

Hogwarts sat perched on a cliff facing the lake. The dark silhouette of the castle was dotted by the lights coming from the various windows, while the top of the towers were illuminated by the moonlight shining from above.

They eventually reached a boat house at the bottom of the cliff and once everyone got off, Hagrid checked the boats again.

“You there! Is this your toad?” he asked Neville and handed it back to him before leading the group up some stairs. 

At the very top, there was a huge, oak front door and Hagrid knocked. A tall, stern-looking witch donned in emerald green robes stood before them. Cassy guessed she must’ve been Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration Professor.

“The firs’-years, Professor McGonagall.” Hagrid beamed.

“Thank you, Hagrid. I’ll take them from here.” she nodded as she swung the door wider. Cassy observed the Entrance Hall as they followed Professor McGonagall. It was even bigger than the ballroom at Malfoy Manor and it was illuminated by torches that hung along the stone wall.

They stopped in front of the great doors that Cassy guessed led to the Great Hall, as she heard the faint sounds of a myriad of voices coming from behind them.

Professor McGonagall turned to face them.

“Welcome to Hogwarts.” she started in a solemn tone “The Start-of-Term Feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses.”

“The Sorting is very important, because while you’re here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.” Professor McGonagall paused, letting the importance of the ceremony sink in.

“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and they have each produced outstanding witches and wizards.” She then explained how they could gain points for their houses or lose them and how at the end of the year there would be the End-of-Term Feast, in which the Headmaster awarded the House Cup to the house that had the most points. 

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a couple of minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up at much as you can while you wait.” she announced before disappearing behind the huge doors.

Cassy fixed her long platinum blonde hair as best as she could before turning to Draco “Does it look tidy enough.”

“Impeccable as always, Cass” he nodded while he fixed his necktie before brushing invisible dust off his robes.

Cassy then turned to Harry, who was fussing over his hair, and noticed his necktie was crooked.

“Here, let me help you.” she offered. Harry nodded and let her expert hands redo the knot for him. Once she was satisfied with it, she grinned and glanced at Hermione.

“You alright there, Hermione?” the other girl was frowning and kept fixing her skirt.

“Just a bit nervous, I guess. Not knowing what the Sorting Ceremony consists of throws me off a bit, that’s all.” Hermione tried to give her a smile but it had turned in some sort of grimace somewhere in the process.

“You don’t have to worry too much about it. Our mother told us more or less what we should expect from the ceremony and it really isn’t that big of a deal.” Cassy tried to comfort her but before the other girl could answer her, Ron’s voice reached them from where he was standing.

“Two of my brothers are two years ahead of us and they told me you have to face a test. Fred said you have to fight a troll.” he said and a couple of first years paled visibly.

Draco rolled his eyes “Please, Weasley. Only a fool like you would believe such a thing. Do you really think that the teachers would allow inexperienced first years face a Dark Creature right off the bat?” he scoffed.

“As if you wouldn’t be able to, Malfoy.” Ron retorted “You said it yourself, back on the train, that your twin has been practicing magic before even starting Hogwarts. I bet your parents already taught you two the Dark Arts.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Hermione came in defense of the twins and glared at the red haired boy. By then the other first years had become invested in what might as well have been the first fight of the term.

Before Ron could retaliate, the doors opened again to reveal Professor McGonagall and everyone stood straighter than before. She old witch eyed them suspiciously before telling them to follow her in a collected queue in pairs.

Cassy had asked her Mother many times to describe the Great Hall but what she had imagined paled when she finally walked into the real thing.

The Great Hall was lit by thousands and thousands of candles, which were floating mid air over four, long house tables. At the end of the Hall, there was the Staff Table where the professors and Headmaster sat, and a wooden stool with an extremely old pointed hat resting on it. When Cassy lifted her gaze to the vaulted high ceiling, she was met with the same night sky that was over the castle at that same moment.

“It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside, I’ve read about it in  _ Hogwarts: A History _ ” Hermione pointed out from beside her and Cassy heard a muttered “ _ Wicked.”  _ from Harry, who was marching in front of her next to Draco.

Every eye in the Great Hall followed them down the corridor created between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor house tables, until they stopped in front of the stool. The Hat then came to life and started singing.

“ _ Oh you may not think I'm pretty, _

_ But don't judge on what you see, _

_ I'll eat myself if you can find _

_ A smarter hat than me. _

_ You can keep your  _ [ _ bowlers _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Bowler) _ black, _

_ Your  _ [ _ top hats _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Top_hat) _ sleek and tall, _

_ For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat _

_ And I can cap them all. _

_ There's nothing hidden in your head _

_ The Sorting Hat can't see, _

_ So try me on and I will tell you _

_ Where you ought to be. _

_ You might belong in  _ [ _ Gryffindor _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Gryffindor) _ , _

_ Where dwell the brave at heart, _

_ Their daring, nerve, and chivalry _

_ Set Gryffindors apart; _

_ You might belong in  _ [ _ Hufflepuff _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hufflepuff) _ , _

_ Where they are just and loyal, _

_ Those patient Hufflepuffs are true _

_ And unafraid of toil; _

_ Or yet in wise old  _ [ _ Ravenclaw _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Ravenclaw) _ , _

_ if you've a ready mind, _

_ Where those of wit and learning, _

_ Will always find their kind; _

_ Or perhaps in  _ [ _ Slytherin _ ](https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Slytherin)

_ You'll make your real friends, _

_ Those cunning folks use any means _

_ To achieve their ends. _

_ So put me on! Don't be afraid! _

_ And don't get in a flap! _

_ You're in safe hands (though I have none) _

_ For I'm a Thinking Cap!" _

The whole Hall burst into applause as the Hat bowed to each of the four tables before going still again. Professor McGonagall pulled out then a long scroll of parchment.

“When I call your name you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.” she explained and began to call out names.

Each time someone got sorted, Cassy would join in on the applauses and by the time Hermione got called out, there had already been two Gryffindors, four Hufflepuffs, four Ravenclaws and four Slytherins, three of whom Cassy had recognised the last names as they came from families that were inside her parents’ social circle.

Cassy gave Hermione an assuring smile as she watched her walk up to the hat and put it on before sitting on the stool. It did take a while for Hermione to get sorted but after nearly four minutes, it bellowed “GRYFFINDOR!”

Cassy saw Hermione relax as she took off the hat and the other girl beamed at her before skipping off to the Gryffindor table, which welcomed and congratulated her cheerfully.

Cassy smiled before turning her attention back to the Sorting. It was Daphne Greengrass’ turn and the hat quickly placed her in Slytherin. After her, there had been two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw. Then it was Neville’s turn and the nervousness was very visible on his face as he put on the hat.

Again, the hat took quite some time in sorting him before bellowing again “GRYFFINDOR!”

Cassy, Draco and Harry clapped very hard with the Gryffindor table and chuckled when Neville nearly took the hat with him before noticing and bringing it back.

With the hat back at its rightful place, the ceremony continued. After another Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, it was finally Cassy’s turn.

“Malfoy, Cassiopeia” Professor McGonagall called. Cassy turned to her twin and Harry and smiled when both of them gave her a thumbs up. She then marched towards the stool, put the hat on and sat down. She jolted slightly when it began talking to her.

“ _ My, my! I was ready to put you in Slytherin like the rest of your family as soon as I hovered on your head but I find myself very intrigued at what I see here.” _

“ _ Wouldn’t have that been a bit prejudiced to sort me without even hearing me out? _ ” Cassy thought haughtily.

“ _ I suppose you are right, Miss Malfoy.”  _ the hat chuckled “ _ Now, let’s see what we have here. You are very loyal to those you love and quite the hard worker, you are, yes… No doubt traits that Helga would’ve appreciated greatly but I also sense some fierceness and courage in you, certainly Godric would’ve liked you.”  _

_ “There’s also an admirable thirst for knowledge, yes, Rowena would’ve liked to have you among her pupils but this ambition of yours for greatness overshadows the rest, as well as a great sense of resourcefulness… You always get what you want and know how to subtly get it.. Salazar often seeked these traits among his students.” _

“ _ You’d be suited to all of the Houses, Miss Malfoy but from my last statement we both know that you would’ve ended there regardless.. I hope you can achieve that greatness, Miss Malfoy..”  _ it concluded before bellowing after what seemed and eternity “SLYTHERIN!”

Cassy took off the hat and grinned when she saw both Draco and Harry cheer loudly for her along with the Slytherin table.

She briskly made her way over to the table where the rest of the Slytherins greeted and congratulated her. She then took her place beside Daphne and focused on Draco’s sorting. 

After a couple of minutes, the hat bellowed “SLYTHERIN!” and Cassy cheered as her twin joined her at the table, sitting in front of her.

“Took you long enough, Dray” Cassy smirked.

“Not my fault if I was suited for more than two houses.” Draco shrugged smugly, causing Cassy to snort and shake her head.

“That was most unexpected” Daphne noted “I thought Malfoys would get automatically sorted in Slytherin?”

“Believe it or not, Draco and I have actual personalities.” Cassy smirked before joining the rest of the house as they cheered for another first year joining them “Also what you said is pretty prejudiced, Daphne.” she added in her no nonsense tone causing the brown haired girl to blush and look away.

“Theo! Good to see you again!” Draco grinned as Theodore Nott sat at Cassy’s left.

“Draco, Cassy.” Theo nodded “I almost thought you’d be sorted elsewhere seeing how long the hat was taking.”

Draco’s chuckle was drowned by more cheering coming from their table as Pansy Parkinson joined them.

“Well met, everybody. I had no doubts I would be sorted here” Pansy made to sit next to Draco before he stopped her.

“Either skip a seat or go sit next to Theo, Pansy. I’m keeping this seat for Harry” Draco said as he turned toward the stool where Harry was currently sitting.

“It’s true, then.” Theo started, as he too paid more attention to the ceremony “Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived is here.”

“Yeah” Cassy nodded “But don’t call him silly names like that. Also please, if he gets sorted in Slytherin, avoid gawking at his scar.”

“Why?” Pansy gave her a questioning look and just then the hat bellowed “SLYTHERIN!”

The twins both stood up and clapped harder than anyone else whilst the rest of the school was temporarily stunned by the decision of the hat.

Amongst other students to cheer for Harry there were also Hermione and Neville, who were clapping the hardest from the Gryffindor table.

Harry quickly made his way over them.

“I saved you a seat, Harry” Draco beamed “I knew you’d end up in Slytherin with us!”

“The hat would’ve liked to put me in Gryffindor too but in the end he said that I would be better off here” Harry chuckled as he sat at Draco’s right.

“Well, the hat was right” Cassy smiled before everyone turned their attention back to the Ceremony. The last first year was sorted in Slytherin and it was none other than Blaise Zabini. 

Blaise had only time to quickly greet the rest of their group as he sat down before Dumbledore stood up.

“Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!”

The old Headmaster sat down as the Hall set off in laughter and cheers. 

“Well, Mother had always said he was an old loon.” Pansy threw a questioning look at the staff table “I never really believed her but this just goes to prove it, I guess.”

Cassy chuckled as a variety of foods appeared in copious amounts on the table before them. The first years let out an amazed gasp. 

The twins were used to see large varieties of fancy dishes but the Hogwarts Feast was on another level. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops. Various types of sausages, bacon and steak, boiled and roasted potatoes, chips. Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and for some reason, Mint Humbugs. Their goblets were filled with apple juice but on the table there were also jugs of pumpkin juice and water.

Cassy helped herself to some lamb chops, boiled potatoes and carrots and happily dug in.

“Now that we are all reunited, Harry let me introduce you to those infamous kids we told you about.” Draco announced after taking a refreshing sip of apple juice and the other first year Slytherins turned their heads in their direction – except for Goyle and Crabbe, who were busy shoving roasted potatoes inside their mouths.

“So starting from those two brutes over there, we have Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, but you can just call them Greg and Vince.” he nodded towards them and Harry followed his gaze before nodding.

“Then this is Daphne Greengrass” Cassy tilted her head first at her right before tilting it to the other side “and Theodore Nott.”

Theo nodded and smirked “Hey.”

“Then to your right you have Blaise Zabini and in front of him, Pansy Parkinson” Draco continued.

“Nice to meet you all.” Harry smiled and nodded.

“I think it’s the first time that Slytherin gains a Potter.” Theo pointed out before stuffing his mouth with chips.

Harry gave him a questioning look and turned to Cassy “Slytherin never had a Potter before?”

“As far as I know, you might be the first Slytherin, as Potters have been Gryffindors since generations.” Cassy took a sip of her apple juice “Congratulations on breaking that tradition, not that I mean it in a bad way. Green and silver suit you better.”

Harry chuckled “Thanks, Cassy. But what about your family?”

“Well, Malfoys have always been Slytherins. As well as Mother’s side of the family,” Draco shrugged “but I think that if we looked further back in time, we might even find a couple Blacks in other houses as well.”

Cassy scoffed “Dray there’s no need to look that much back into our family tree, remember Mother’s cousin?”

“Which one?” 

“Sirius Black, Aunt Walburga’s eldest son. He was a Gryffindor; but from what I heard from Mother, he was quite the rebellious one. But other than that, I only know that he’s currently in Azkaban.” She shrugged before adding “Just like Mother’s elder sister, Bellatrix.”

“What’s Azkaban?” Harry asked.

“It’s a high security wizarding prison.” Cassy concluded as everyone stared at her. 

After another beat, Draco chimed in “Moving onto merrier topics, how was your summer?”

The Feast continued like that. At some point, the ghost that inhabited the castle paid a visit to the students and among the terrified and fascinated first years, the ghosts of the four houses introduced themselves to the new members. The ghost of the Slytherin house introduced himself as the Bloody Baron and apparently he loved to coerce the first years into winning many house points and behaving, by not so soft hearted threats. By the end of the evening, they all felt they had eaten themselves into a food coma.

At the end of the Feast, Dumbledore rose to his feet once again, beginning a speech from which Cassy had tuned out of, feeling the rush of excitement of the day finally slowly fading into one of tiredness.

After having sung the school anthem, the Slytherin prefects in charge finally came to pick up the first years. They introduced themselves as Gemma Farley and Damien Langhorne.

Gemma was a friendly fifth year with wavy brown hair, blue eyes and faint freckles on her face. She also played Beater on the Quidditch team.

Damien, on the other hand, looked very composed, but friendly enough to approach. Dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, he was in the same year as Gemma.

“First years, please follow us. The dungeons are right this way.” said Damien as he started making his way out of the Great Hall. Gemma made sure that the group was still following.

On their way to the dungeons, Cassy caught glimpses of the conversation that was going on between her twin and Harry behind her.

“Say Draco, what’s Quidditch?” Harry asked.

“Only the best wizarding sport to ever exist. I’ll explain everything once we’re in our dormitory.” Draco assured him and Harry nodded.

“I personally prefer Duelling. Mother said there was some sort of club at Hogwarts,” Cassy added, catching their attention “I really hope it’s true. I’ve always wanted to join ever since she told us about it.”

“Aiming to be as skilled as Auntie Bella, Cass?” Draco smirked.

“I have no intentions of going down her same path of course,” Cassy replied haughtily “but I do want to be the strongest in all of Hogwarts.” before resuming her conversation with another girl in their year, whose name was Tracey Davis, as Cassy learned moments before in an effort to get to know people outside her usual social circle.

After a while, the group had finally reached their destination in the dungeons but all they saw, was a solid stone wall with two torches perched on each side. There wasn’t anything around that suggested the presence of an entryway.

“Are we sure this is the right way?” Theo asked “You’re not pranking us, right?”

Gemma stared at him with a funny expression before snorting “Why would we? Anyway, let me explain. Now most of you already know about our house through your families, but our Prefect duties require us to do this. ” she then cleared her voice to assume what Cassy thought to be a more solemn tone.

“First thing first, congratulations on officially becoming First Year Slytherins! As you can see, our common room is located down here in the dungeons, behind this very stone wall.” she gestured towards the wall behind her.

“But before we tell you this week’s password, I personally would like to dispel some misconceptions about the reputation of our house. First of all, not the entirety of the house is into the Dark Arts or that we’ll exclude you from any social interactions if your lineage doesn’t include some famous witch or wizard.” There was a nervous laughter from the group of first years. Cassy could recall precisely how many in her family, especially from the House of Black, were illustrious and notable elements inside the British wizarding society. One of which had also been Headmaster of Hogwarts.

“Second of all,” Damien effortlessly took over the speech, “it’s not true that Slytherin accepts strictly pupils coming from Pureblood families. In fact, it’s quite the contrary as you’ll see, many of your housemates either have at least one magical parent or none at all – yes, there are Slytherin Muggle-borns as well who are just as talented, so I’m going to ask you to refrain from using blood status slurs inside the common room.” he added when a couple of surprised first years stared back at him.

“Always remember that our house values ambition, resourcefulness and cunning above everything else. The other houses might say that Salazar privileged blood status over these qualities but if you do some research, you’ll find that the noble founder of a certain house of the brave and chivalrous – yes, I’m talking about Godric Gryffindor, favoured Pureblooded students just as much.” Damien smirked before adding “So if any lions attack you for your house, you already know that their pride is based on biased hypocrisy.”

The entire group genuinely laughed. Once they all recomposed themselves, Damien continued.

“The emblem of our house is the wisest of creatures, the serpent and our colours are green and silver. Our Head of House is the school’s Potion Master, Professor Severus Snape. While it’s true that he tends to favor students from his house, do try not to lose too many house points as it could cost us the House Cup, which has been in our possession for the past Seven years.”

Gemma took over again “Remember that we look after our own. While we understand that it’s impossible to get along with every single housemate, try to keep the various disputes within the common room. Outside of these walls, we must show a united front because much like the snake in our emblem, we are elegant as much as we are misunderstood.”

“That’s why when three thirds of the school works against us, we need to fend for ourselves and really consider the rest of your house as a real family. And what do you do with your families?”

“We protect them at all cost” Cassy answered, more to herself than to Gemma’s rhetorical question.

But the older girl heard her anyway “Exactly, Malfoy! Have two points. Now,” she said she walked toward the stone wall “the password changes every week and it will be posted on the Notice Board near the entrance every Monday morning, so please be sure to keep track of it unless you want to get locked out.” 

“This week, the password is  _ ‘Salazar’  _ “ At her words, the stone wall slid to the side to reveal an arched entrance and the prefects led the group inside. 

The Common Room was a large room, with high vaulted ceilings and arched windows that showed the depths of the Black Lake, casting an eerie green light, which was only softened by the silver chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. Both on the left and right side of the room, there were two fireplaces with various heirlooms and odd sculptures – which Cassy noted to be snake skulls – on top of them. Elegant dark leather sofas decorated the area in proximity of the fireplaces with a redwood coffee table in the middle, where they could relax in company. Scattered around the common room, there were also various tables and chairs where students could find a place to study. The stone walls were decorated with various portraits of Salazar Slytherin and other notable wizards who were once Slytherins, paintings of snakes and antique tapestries. Opposite to the entrance, there were two more passageways on each side of the room, which Cassy guessed led to the dormitories.

“Boys’ dorms are to the left and girls’ dorms to the right. Needless to say that boys are not permitted inside the girls’ dorms unless you want to get flung across the common room by a Blasting Curse.” Gemma explained before taking the girls with her while the boys followed Damien.

“Is it true?” Daphne asked “The Blasting Curse, I mean.”

Gemma shrugged “Why, yes. To make sure boys don’t sneak in our dorms, the entrance to this corridor is charmed to detect intentions and fling the intruder away.”

Meanwhile, they stopped in front of a door with a golden plaque, down the corridor there six more similar to it. The words ‘ _ First Years’  _ were engraved on the plaque.

“Here we are, this is you girls. At least for this year. You will move further down the corridor according to your school year. Breakfast is from half-past Six to Eight o’clock and the first class begins at Nine. Your schedules will be handed out during breakfast tomorrow.” Gemma explained as she started leaving towards her room.

“One last thing, gather around in the common room first thing tomorrow morning by Seven o’clock. It is a tradition here at Slytherin that we get to the Great Hall for breakfast together on the first day,” she smirked “it’s also a great way to make sure that the firsties don’t get lost. Also, curfew is at Ten in the evening.”

“I’m four doors down the corridor if you ever need me, have a good night!” and with that she turned and briskly walked away.

Cassy opened the door and stepped inside, the other girls followed right after her. She looked around.

The first year dorm was a large square room with two large ceiling to floor windows that showed the lake, two fireplaces on each side. Three polished dark wood poster beds were lining the left side of the room while two were on the other; each bed had their own nightstands and were decorated with emerald curtains and dark green covers. Just like the common room, a silver chandelier hung from the ceiling.

There was also another door on the right side wall, which, most likely, led to the bathroom.

“The bed near the windows on the right side is mine.” Cassy announced as she quickly made her way there, relieved to find her trunk already at the foot of her bed.

The other girls scampered to claim their own beds as well and in the end, Tracey chose the bed beside Cassy’s while Daphne claimed the one opposite to Cassy, leaving Pansy between her and the other girl, whose name was Millicent Bullstrode.

After getting changed into her nightgown, Cassy grabbed two pieces of parchment from her trunk, with the intent to write her parents. She then sat on her bed and wished a good night to her roommates before shutting the curtains around her bed.

She quickly wrote a short letter to her father, letting him know that both her and Draco were sorted into Slytherin and that, although she had wished for him to join them at Kings Cross, she understood the importance of his duties at the Ministry.

She kept it short and overall formal because Merlin forbid that she used nothing but reverential tones with her own Father. 

Cassy didn’t know exactly when her father started emotionally distancing from his own children but deep down, she still hoped to see the loving father that was once Lucius Malfoy.

Cassy rolled up the first letter and tied it up before beginning the letter for her mother.

_ Dearest Mother, _

_ I have the pleasure to inform you that, both Draco and I have been sorted into Slytherin! I really hope you and Father will be proud of this. Speaking of sorting, you would never believe who else was sorted into Slytherin. Harry Potter himself! Isn’t that crazy?  _

_ Hogwarts is amazing! It’s just like you told us, although I have to admit that seeing it with my own eyes is a whole new experience. Also, to answer to your request from the other day, no, the Bloody Baron didn’t change his method to introduce himself. _

_ The food of the Welcoming Feast was fantastic and even though the peach cobbler was good, it didn’t outshine the one I used to have at home. I guess it’s just a matter of homesickness. _

_ I already miss the Manor but above all, I already miss you, Mother. _

_ It’s night time now as I’m writing this but it’ll be morning when Artemis finally gets to you, as I’m not allowed to leave the common room after curfew. I shall go to sleep now, we have to be up early tomorrow. _

_ With love, _

_ Cassy _

Once she had finished composing the letter, she rolled that one up too and sealed it before adjusting herself under the cover and staring at the ceiling of her poster bed.

She was finally here and very much looked forward to starting her lessons.

“ _ This is where I begin.”  _ she thought to herself as she slowly drifted to sleep.


	5. FRIENDS AND FOES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! so the second week has finally begun! things have been set into motion and I hope I this chapter is not gonna be too bland. I'm currently working on the chapters for next week so if you have grown invested in this fic, fear not it won't end up as an uncomplete work haha
> 
> Without further ado, i hope you'll enjoy this chapter and as always, feel free to comment! let me know what you think, it always makes me happy to read your opinions. The update schedule is always the same! (Mon-Wed-Fri)

2nd September, 1991

Hogwarts

The following morning, Cassy woke up surrounded by darkness. Not remembering ever owning a four poster bed, it took her a few seconds to recall where she was. Cassy then sat up and smiled as she stretched. Peeking out from the bed curtains, she saw that her roommates were still asleep. She cast a quick  _ Tempus  _ and when she saw that it was a couple minutes past Six, Cassy got up and got ready as Gemma said to be in the common room by Seven.

Cassy was delighted to see that her school robes, uniforms and ties had already changed to display her house colours and crest. She quickly put them on and shove the two letters from the previous night inside her bag, as the door to the bathroom closed, signalling that one of her roommates had woken up in the meantime.

As she walked past the bathroom door on her way to the door, she startled when Tracey came out of the bathroom.

“Morning Cassy,” she smiled “sorry for startling you.”

“Morning Tracey and don’t worry, it’s nothing” Cassy chuckled.

Tracey nodded before noticing Cassy already fully clothed “Are you–” she interrupted herself when mumbling and shifting came from behind the curtain of Millicent’s bed. Tracey lowered her voice to almost a whisper.

“Are you heading to the common room?” and when Cassy nodded, Tracey asked her to wait for her as she put on her school uniform and robes. Once the other girl was ready, they both quietly slipped through the door and made their way to the common room.

Cassy was surprised to see that they weren’t the only early risers as much as she wasn’t surprised to see that the majority of their housemates were still in their dormitories.

They decided to sit by one of the arched windows as Cassy wanted to see if she could spot the Giant Squid swim by. While they were scanning the depths of the lake and patiently waiting for the rest of the house to wake up, the two of them fell easily in a conversation and Cassy found herself to quite like Tracey’s company.

From their first interactions last night and this conversation, Cassy learned that Tracey liked reading books, wizarding and muggle books and loved discovering new things each day. Tracey had straight dark brown hair and almond shaped eyes that were just as dark as her hair. She was a Half-blood born in Japan from a Japanese Muggle and a British wizard. She

had told her that her father was traveling through Japan, studying both wizarding and Muggle cultures over there when he met Tracey’s mother.

“My father said that it was love at first sight, so he decided to settle down and married my mother. After a year of marriage, they had me.” Tracey explained, “Even though we were all pretty happy there, my father thought it would be better to raise me here in Britain.”

“And your mother didn’t even object with his decision?” Cassy asked. She remembered all too well when her father wanted to send Draco off to Durmstrang and herself to Beauxbatons.

Tracey smiled and shook her head “Not at all, no. We used to live out in the country, you see, and my mother had always wanted to see more of the world. So when I turned five, we moved to Brighton, my father’s birthplace.” 

“Oh, I see.” Cassy smiled. 

In the meantime, the more and more Slytherins were crowding the common room and after a while their roommates joined them as well. Cassy looked around, hoping to spot either messy black hair or a platinum blond head, without much luck. When the rest of the house was almost ready to leave the common room, the first year boys emerged from the boys’ dormitories.

“What took you so long?” Pansy asked.

“Neither Vince or Greg wanted to wake up. We tried everything! Even water, I swear” Blaise huffed, staring daggers into the backs of the two boys who went to the front of the group among the older years.

“Who knew all it took was to mention breakfast!” he added, throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

Cassy chuckled as Draco and Harry walked up to her.

“Morning, you two.” she smiled.

“Morning Cass”

“Morning, sister.”

“Dray, have you written your letters for Mother and Father?”

Draco nodded “Yeah, I’ll send them after breakfast. You?”

“I have them on me, wanna go up to the owlery together?” Cassy smiled when Draco nodded.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Slytherins started filing out the common room and the first years followed the crowd, carefully remembering every turn and staircases they had to take to get to the Great Hall.

The Great wasn’t full yet. Except for Ravenclaws and most of Hufflepuffs, more than half of Gryffindors were still missing from their table.

The Slytherins took their places at their tables, quietly talking in groups, before starting to serve themselves. With the exception of Vince and Greg, the first year Slytherins were among the last group of their house to step inside the Great Hall.

Cassy looked towards the Gryffindor table and was pleased to see a bushy head already sitting at the table.

“Just save a seat for me, I’ll join you in a bit.” she said hastily as she started to make her way to the Gryffindor table.

“Where are you going?” Harry asked.

“I just spotted Hermione, care to join me?” The three made their way to their friend with most of the Great Hall staring at them, almost as if anticipating a bout of house rivalry first thing in the morning on the first day of classes.

“Hey, Hermione.” Harry greeted.

“Oh, morning guys. Did you just get here?” Hermione asked, closing the book she was poring over.

Cassy nodded “Yeah, is that this year’s Charms textbook you’re reading?” she asked as they sat down on the bench opposite Hermione, much to her surprise. “What’s wrong?” Cassy asked when she saw Hermione’s expression.

“Cassy you know you guys can’t sit here.” Hermione said in a whisper.

“Says who?” Draco interjected as Harry added without missing a beat “Is it because we’re Slytherins?”

“Don’t tell me you believe that load of crap that the other houses say about us?” Cassy scoffed, surprised that someone like Hermione would believe such lies.

“I… well, I don’t. Because I don’t have any proof.” Hermione reddened “Okay, I’m sorry. I don’t actually believe you guys are all bad.”

The trio beamed “Great!”

Hermione told them about her first night with the other three Gryffindor girls and how difficult it was for her to find a common topic to discuss with them, while they had pretty much got on pretty quickly.

“Who are your roommates, anyway?” Cassy asked.

“Well, there’s Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil – her twin was sorted into Ravenclaw – and Sally-Anne Perks.” Hermione listed “Sally is a Muggle-born too.”

“Well, that’s great right?” Draco beamed “Surely, with you two being Muggle-borns, you have plenty of things to tell each other? You know, Muggle stuff.”

Harry snorted, earning an elbow to his sides from Draco, before stopping as he saw Hermione’s flustered expression “Am I guessing right to say that you couldn’t strike a conversation with her?”

The three of them grimaced when their Gryffindor friend nodded.

“I’m sorry to hear about that,” Cassy sighed before an idea popped up on her mind “how about you join us at our table for breakfast?”

“I… well, I already had breakfast…” Hermione started.

“Or you could just join us for a chat, Slytherins will definitely be a better company than… well, your still absent housemates.” Cassy proposed as the three got up. 

When Hermione finally accepted, the four of them made their way to the Slytherin table.

“What’s a lion doing here?” Pansy asked haughtily.

Cassy narrowed her eyes, less than pleased with Pansy’s tone towards Hermione “Hermione’s  _ our friend _ , Pansy.” she started, putting a certain emphasys on the words ‘our friend’.

“There is nothing wrong with having friends outside of Slytherin.” she explained as she sat on the bench between Harry and Hermione “Mother had always said that knowing people outside of one’s usual social circle could be benefitting and  _ I _ intend to do so, whether you like it or not.”

“Moreover,” Cassy continued, using her no nonsense tone “you don’t even know her. Actually, Hermione, this is Pansy Parkinson. Pansy, this is Hermione Granger and if you actually take time to talk to her, you’ll find that she’s a great person.”

Pansy opened her mouth to reply but when nothing came out, she sighed and after a couple of seconds she personally introduced herself to the Gryffindor girl. The other first year Slytherins followed her soon after.

It didn’t take long for everyone to warm up to Hermione and in the end, Cassy was pleased to see that Hermione engrossed in a conversation about the Muggle and Wizarding world with Tracey and Theo.

After a while more students filed into The Great Hall and Hermione left them to return to her table, promising to both Tracey and Theo that they’d continue their debate on another occasion.

Cassy had just finished her toast when Gemma came up to the first years with their timetable. After breakfast they had Transfiguration with Ravenclaw.

“Trust you can find the classroom pretty easily, it’s on the first floor.” Gemma smirked and before she could continue handing timetables further down the table, Cassy stopped her.

“Gemma, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Draco and I have to send some letters, do you reckon you could show us the way to the owlery?” she asked, grabbing her bag as she stood up.

Gemma nodded “Absolutely, yes. Let me just finish with the second year timetables and I’ll take you there.”

Cassy beamed and thanked her. She then turned to her twin “Gemma’s taking us to the owlery, are you done eating?” 

“I have ears, Cass and yes I’m done. Would you like to join us, Harry? Pretty sure Hedwig would love to see you.”

Harry nodded and quickly finished his pumpkin juice. Shortly after, Gemma came up to them and led them to the owlery.

Once they got up to the owlery, Gemma left as she had to hurry if she wanted to get to the greenhouses for Herbology.

When they got inside, it didn’t take much time to spot their owls as both Artemis and Hedwig were two pure white spots in a sea of various shades of grey and brown. The only thing in between the two owls, was Draco’s eagle owl, Apollo.

The three owls flew down to their owners to greet them. Cassy let Artemis gently nibble her finger after she had stroked her head.

“Ready for your first delivery, girl?” Cassy asked and smiled when the eagle owl emitted a soft chirp. She then tied the two letters to Artemis’ leg before leading her to the window and watching her take flight towards home. Apollo followed her shortly after.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a white eagle owl before.” said Harry, as he scratched Hedwig’s neck. The snow owl bore an expression of pure bliss.

“They were birthday gifts from Father, he got them from a specialised breeder.” Draco explained, stepping closer to Hedwig and trying to see if she’d let him pet her.

“Oh, I see. Hedwig was a birthday gift too.” he smiled, remembering that day in Diagon Alley, before adding “From Hagrid, actually.”

They then hung out with Hedwig a couple more minutes before Cassy reminded them they had better start making their way down to Transfiguration, lest they lose house points for coming in late.

The three Slytherins easily found the classroom and joined the rest of their housemates, who had occupied the left side of the room. Cassy sat in the first row with Tracey while Draco and Harry claimed the row behind her. The first year Ravenclaws joined them inside the classroom after a couple of minutes and at Nine o’clock, Professor McGonagall entered the classroom, starting the roll call.

*****

At the end of the lesson, Cassy came to the conclusion that she loved Transfigurations. She found the theoretical part of the subject highly interesting and had even gotten Ten points for her success in turning a match into a needle – and back – on her first try, earning some envious glances from a couple of Ravenclaws as well. 

But other than that, the morning continued uneventfully up to their first Potions lesson with Gryffindor. She was looking forward to finally seeing what kind of teacher Professor Snape was. 

The classroom was down in the dungeons and the Slytherins were first to arrive, occupying the left side of the classroom and this time too, Cassy sat in the first row while Harry and Draco occupied the second row. Hermione was the first Gryffindor to arrive and joined Cassy at her table when the Slytherins beckoned her over. Neville and a couple more Gryffindors followed soon after, filing in the rows of tables on the right side of the classroom, but someone was still missing.

A couple of seconds before the bell rang, signalling the start of their third period, Ron Weasley barged inside the Potions classroom. His face was almost as red as his hair, most likely from having ran to get to the dungeons.

“Bloody hell,” he panted “I’m not late, am I?”

“Five points from Gryffindor, Mr Weasley.” Professor Snape’s drawl came from behind the redhead, causing all the colour to drain from the face of the Gryffindor in question. “Tardiness shall not be tolerated in this class. Now, if you would be so kind, please join your housemates so I can start my lesson.” Snape added, proceeding then with taking attendance as a mortified Weasley sat beside one of the Gryffindor boys. 

“Ah, yes. Harry Potter, our new…  _ celebrity _ ” Sanpe commented out loud when he reached Harry’s name, before continuing to call the roll. Cassy narrowed her eyes slightly at the professor’s unnecessary remark.

Once he was done, Snape closed the attendance book with a loud thump and crossed his arms.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making.” he started in a solemn voice. “As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.”

As much as she disapproved of the snarky comment of her Head of House from moments before, she had to admit that the wizard knew how to make the subject even more interesting. Yet, her face said otherwise as the slight scowl was still on Cassy’s face, catching Snape’s attention.

“Tell me, Miss Malfoy, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Snape asked out of the blue. If he thought he could catch her unprepared, he would be up for disappointment.

“You would get the  _ Draught of Living Death  _ sir, which is a powerful sleeping potion, sir.” Cassy answered readily “It is often found in Muggle fictional literature, as well.”

Snape blinked before staring over her head “Indeed. Mr Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”

Slightly turning her head and out of the corner of her eyes, Cassy could see Harry taking a moment to think before giving the answer while beside her, Hermione’s hand shot in the air.

“In the stomach of a goat, sir. Bezoar can save you from  _ most _ poisons.” Harry replied and Cassy nodded approvingly as she started to write down notes of the questions they had just answered.

“Correct.” Snape drawled before moving onto her twin. “Mr Malfoy, what is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”

“None, sir.” Draco was quick with his answer and next to Cassy, Hermione deflated. Instead, she prepared to write down the answer. “They’re the same thing and also go by the name of aconite.”

“Exactly. Ten points to Mr and Miss Malfoy and Mr Potter.” He paused as he scanned the classroom “Two more points to Miss Malfoy and Miss Granger for having the basic decency of taking notes when they are being provided.” he drawled, emphasising the end of the sentence. There was a beat until everyone understood what Snape meant with that last remark and soon, the soft noise of simmering cauldrons was mixed to the scratching sound of quills on parchment.

Professor Snape had them brew a  _ Cure for Boils _ . Towards the end of the lesson, Cassy and Hermione were the first ones to finish and after a thorough inspection, they both got ten points each for the perfect potion. 

When the bell signalled the end of the lesson, the four friends gathered their belongings and made their way to the door. Cassy and Hermione were comparing their timetables before Ron Weasley blocked their way.

“I bet you loved that, huh? Snape would give you points for merely breathing, Malfoy” he sneered.

“Drop it, Ron. Cassy rightfully earned those points,” Hermione retorted, defending her Slytherin friend “and for your information, Snape is actually right on taking notes without being prompted to.”

“Shut it, Granger. You were just as desperate to earn points.” Ron scoffed before paling as he saw Snape coming up to them, threatening to take house points if they didn’t leave the classroom in ten seconds. There was a rush for the door after that.

But the discussion was far from being over.

Out in the corridor, Ron confronted them again “Think we didn’t see you, Granger? You were practically jumping on your seat to answer.” 

“Are you really gonna use that as your argument?” Draco sneered, standing between Hermione and Ron “Seeing the utter lack of participation from the lot of you, you should be grateful that she earned your house some points.”

“Who said anything to  _ you _ , Malfoy?” 

Draco was about to reply but refrained when Cassy put a hand on his shoulder.

“Enough.” her voice was cold and even made Ron startle slightly “I really wish to get to my next lesson on time, Weasley, just like anyone else here. So if you’re done with this little charade, I would like for you to step aside and let us through.”

But Ron didn’t budge and at that point there was quite some crowd around them.

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way.” Cassy repeated through gritted teeth. Her hand was slowly reaching for her wand.

Ron glared at the group but eventually relented as two other Gryffindors dragged him away, saying that they’d be in trouble if they were late for the lesson. Once the redhead disappeared behind the corner, Hermione relaxed and let out the breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“Just ignore him, Cassy.” Hermione tried to placate her friend, giving her a small smile and promising they’d catch up later before the running to her next lesson.

*****

6th September, 1991

Hogwarts

Before they all knew it, Friday came around and their first week at Hogwarts passed in a blur of lessons, study sessions in the library and nearly avoided fights in the corridors, especially when Draco and Harry had taken a personal interest in pranking the Gryffindor boys, safe for Neville, in as many ways they could think of. It was only a matter of time until the other Slytherins would join in on the fun.

Lunchtime, that day, was particularly noisy among the first years as the first flying lesson would be held in the afternoon without separating the Houses.

“What’s with the long faces, aren’t you guys excited for this afternoon?” Draco asked. Next to him, Harry bore a pensive expression while Cassy looked outright bored.

“I don’t know, Draco.” Harry started as he played around with his food “What if I’m not cut for flying? Or what if I fall on my face in front of Weasley?”

“Nonsense I’m sure you’ll do just fine,” Draco snorted “plus you’re not the only one who’s gonna fly for the first time.”

Harry nodded, feeling slightly better since he won’t be the only one failing, before taking a sip of his apple juice.

“And if you do fall on your face, we’ll silence Weasley even before he’ll be able to say a word.” Theo cut in the conversation, causing his roommate to choke on his drink “Really, we could just push him off his broom. Nothing that a night in the Hospital Wing cannot fix.”

“Y-you could w-what?!” Harry stuttered in between coughs as Draco slapped his back, snickering.

“Don’t be such a brute Theo,” Cassy said as she scooped up the last bit of jello “I’m sure a simple Stinging Hex would do.”

“Cassy’s right,” Pansy joined in the discussion “plus, if we’re subtle enough we can even avoid having our points taken.”

“Cheers, Pansy.” Cassy smirked “Seriously, Harry. Stop worrying, you’ll be fine.”

Harry sighed “If you say so…”

*****

Around Two o’clock, all the first years gathered in the school Training Grounds, where Madam Hooch was already waiting for them. Two rows of broomsticks were laying on the grass before her.

“Welcome to Flying Class, everybody take a place beside your brooms. We’ll be starting shortly after we go over some safety rules, maintenance procedures and flying theory.”

The lesson continued uneventfully up until it was time to mount the brooms. Madam Hooch had them put a hand over their brooms and summon them by saying “Up!”

Harry was the first one to succeed on his first try, as Draco and Cassy followed him right after. In front of them, the Gryffindors seemed to struggle. Hermione’s broom kept jerking and rolling on the ground no matter how many times she said up. Ron, on the other hand, had managed to make the broom handle to knock him on his face, causing the Slytherins and some other first years to laugh. In the middle of that chaos, without nobody really knowing how, Neville started panicking as he started lifting off the ground. 

“Neville let go of the broom!” Hermione shouted but he was already sixty feet off the ground.

Despite Madam Hooch’s attempts to calm him down, Neville continued panicking until he slipped off his broom and landed on the grass. The thud that followed made everyone wince.

Madam Hooch hurried to check on him and threatened everyone with a ban from flying lessons if she saw anyone up in the air as she rushed Neville to the Hospital Wing.

“Always Longbottom, that idiot. Trust him to not manage simple spells in class and now he doesn’t even know how to keep his feet on the ground.” Ron tutted before snorting “Least he could’ve done was to land on his butt, surely it would’ve  _ softened  _ the landing, if you know what I mean.” 

The reactions were divided. Some first years laughed, among those Seamus Finnigan and the other Gryffindor girls, others didn’t really know how to react. Dean Thomas was one of

those, as well as a couple of Slytherins, who despite not really being friends with Neville, didn’t really feel like going against the twins and Harry.

Then there were those who were outright angered by Ron’s so called joke.

“Stop being a jerk to Neville!” Hermione roared, quickly walking up to Ron, followed by the twins, Harry and Theo.

“Oi, Weasley!” Theo called out “You’re a moron, you know that, right?”

“I just said the truth,” Ron sneered, “not even you guys can deny that he's good for nothing!”

“Say that again, you bloody weasel!” Harry jumped at the Gryffindor boy but Draco was quick to hold him back “No matter what you keep spewing about him, he’s worth ten times as a wizard than what you’ll ever be!”

“What kind of bloody wizard doesn’t even know how to ride a broom?!”

“Hah!” Draco snorted “You see, unlike  _ you, _ he didn’t get smacked in his face by his broom and unlike  _ you _ , he doesn’t go around acting like an entitled prat.”

Ron scowled and was about to reply when something on the ground caught his attention. He kneeled to grab it.

Cassy recognised it being a Remembrall.

“Lookie here,” Ron smirked, juggling the glass ball between his hands “looks like Longbottom left behind the only thing that could have reminded him to stay on the ground.”

Harry, who had calmed down in the meantime, narrowed his eyes “Give it back here, Weasley.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Ron smirked as he started pocketing it. He then stared at one of the towers that faced the grounds, his eyes glinted mischievously. “Actually, since Neville couldn’t literally wait to be in the air,” he said as he mounted his broom, lifting off the ground “I’m gonna put it where he can easily retrieve it.”

And with that he zoomed towards one of the towers.

What followed happened too quick for Cassy to follow. 

“Harry, no!” Cassy heard Hermione shout as Harry hopped on his broom and sped off after Weasley.

Startled the sudden appearance of Harry by his side, the redhead dropped the glass ball and Harry quickly dove after it, catching it a few feet off the ground and sharply pulling back up.

Neither Cassy nor Draco or the other Slytherins could believe their eyes. Harry had just pulled a perfect Wronski Feint on his first time on a broom.

Cassy let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding when Harry slowly landed and joined the other students running towards him.

“Mate, that was sick!”

“Are you sure you told us the truth about this being your first time on a broom?”

“You could’ve hurt yourself! Or worse!”

Among the myriad of students around Harry, Snape appeared behind them, making everyone jump when he made his presence known.

“Mr Potter, come with me please.” Everyone stared between the Potions Master and Harry as a triumphant smirk crept on a certain Gryffindor’s face, before gradually disappearing as the professor added “Don’t cheer just yet, Mr Weasley I will report to your Head of House once I’m done with Mr Potter.”

Cassy saw Harry pale visibly and swallowing dry before hesitantly following Snape. She followed them with her eyes until they disappeared back inside the castle.

After a while, Madam Hooch came back and called the lesson off. 

As they made their way back inside, a fuming Ron quickly strode past the Slytherins. “Stupid Potter, I’ll make him pay for that.” He muttered before storming up the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower.

Cassy tried to ignore him as best as she could as she followed the Slytherins back into the dungeons.

*****

Despite seeing Professor Snape sitting at the Staff Table, Cassy hadn’t seen Harry for the entirety of the dinner and when she looked across the Hall towards the Gryffindor table, she saw a furious Ron Weasley staring daggers towards the first years Slytherin. She grimaced in disgust when she saw that despite being angry, Weasley still kept stuffing food inside his mouth.

“Where’s Harry?” She asked her twin.

Draco shrugged “I have no idea, he wasn’t back yet when we got back to the dorm.”

Cassy frowned and sighed “I hope he’s not in trouble.”

After Dinner, the first year Slytherins made their way back to the Common Room where Harry came up to them.

“Harry! Where have you been all evening? What did Snape tell you?” Cassy asked.

“I’ll explain everything, come with me for now.” He said as he led the group to the first years boys’ dorms.

“How come you girls can get in here but we can’t get into your corridor?” Blaise protested.

“Maybe because us girls have no intention to deliberately come in here looking for a snog.” Pansy replied haughtily.

Cassy stopped that discussion before it could go further “Guys, please. What did you want to tell us Harry?”

Harry took a deep breath “So you know how Snape dragged me away from the flying lesson, right?”

The other first years nodded. “Yeah, don’t worry you didn’t miss anything. Hooch called it off when she came back shortly after you left.” Theo shrugged.

“Oh. Well, Snape first took me to Defence and asked for Flint, our Quidditch team Captain, and then we went to his office.”

Daphne frowned “Okay and?”

“So, basically what I’m trying to say is that, although still not officially, I’m Slytherin’s new Seeker.”

After a beat the boys exploded, cheering for their roommate as the girls congratulated him.

“Seeker! You actually made the team in your first year at that!” Blaise beamed.

“My best mate, youngest Seeker in a century!” Draco, smiled, slinging an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Do you know what broom you’re getting?” he added.

“Not yet, no.” Harry shook his head “Snape said he would get me a copy of  _ Which Broomstick  _ to browse.. Actually Draco, could you help me with that, please?”

“Count me in on that” Draco smirked.

Harry nodded “Brilliant! Also, Flint’s holding a special tryout just for me next Saturday. That was the only condition he asked for from Snape.”

“Okay, wait until he sees you fly, then. There’s no way Flint’s not gonna let you in after that.” Cassy smiled before shrugging “At least I know what I’m doing next weekend.”

The first years then spent the rest of the evening playing Exploding Snap in the boys’ dorm before the girls left after three matches.

Back in their dormitory, Cassy changed into her nightgown and closed the bed curtains before climbing into her bed. She grabbed a photo from her nightstand and smiled at it.

Artemis had delivered it along with the letter from her mother. On said letter, she also wrote that she’d be sending care packages with their favourite things every Monday morning.

Cassy stared at the moving photo. They had taken it the week of their eleventh birthday, when they portkeyed to their chateau in Provence to celebrate. Her mother was walking in the middle of two rows of lavender shrubs, clad in her favourite pale pink summer dress and sun hat. Her long platinum blonde hair swayed in the air, moved by an imperceptible breeze. Narcissa turned to face the camera and smiled warmly as Cassy and Draco ran to her. In the picture, Cassy said something to Draco who stuck his tongue out at her, causing their mother to laugh, before turning their attention to the camera.

Cassy watched the loop play over one more time before putting the photo back on her nightstand and laying her head on the pillow, drifting quickly into a deep slumber.


	6. QUIDDITCH AND FORBIDDEN CORRIDORS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! So here's another update, this one's pretty short I think but don't worry, I'll make up for it haha anyways, I'm sorry if I left any comments unresponded but I got busy with uni and life in general oof but not to worry, I'm still ahead of the schedule. As always, feel free to comment, and I hope you'll enjoy this one!

14th September, 1991

Hogwarts

Despite it being a Saturday, and therefore she could’ve slept in as there were no lessons, Cassy woke up extremely early. Without much success, she tried to get back to sleep and after tossing and turning for a good five minutes, she gave up and sat up with a huff.

With her roommates still fast asleep, Cassy quietly tiptoed into the bathroom and got ready, wearing a white collared blouse underneath a warm, dark blue woollen suspender skirt overall, as students were allowed to wear casual clothing during weekends, and a pair of ankle boots. She then threw on her favourite capelet and secured the silver moon shaped clasp before grabbing her wand and slipping out the door.

When Cassy arrived in the Common Room, she was surprised to see, amongst other early risers, Harry sitting on the window sill, staring out into the lake. The Nimbus 2000 he had ordered the previous week rested against the wall beside him.

“I thought you would grab the chance to sleep in, Harry.” 

Harry turned to look at her “Oh, hi Cass,” he smiled “Er, no I couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up and got ready for the day.”

“Also I was pretty nervous about the tryout so now I’m here waiting for Draco.” He laughed nervously as he jumped down from the window sill.

Cassy smiled and shook her head “You have nothing to worry about, Harry. You’re basically already on the team! And forget about waiting for my brother, he won’t be awake before nine. Care to join me for breakfast instead?” 

Harry chuckled and nodded “I see and yeah, maybe I am just overthinking..” he trailed off before looking at her outfit and giving her a questioning look as he grabbed his broom “What’s with this formal attire?” 

Cassy raised an eyebrow “Formal? These are my casual clothes, actually. I dress like this when I’m home too.”

The two Slytherins made their way out of the Common Room. Their steps echoed down the quiet dungeon corridor.

“You Malfoys have a very… uhm,  _ peculiar _ idea of casual.” Harry observed as they turned a corner to the staircase that would lead them to the Entrance Hall.

Cassy snorted “Yet it works, doesn’t it?” She asked before looking at her friend “ _ You _ , on the other hand. Are you aware that your clothes look like they've been hit by a botched Enlargement Charm?”

Harry blushed visibly “Er, these are actually Dudley’s hand me downs. He’s my cousin. Or to be more precise, these  _ were _ his but they don’t fit him anymore and I tried to mend them as best as I could.”

After a moment of silence, Cassy cleared her throat “I feel like there’s more to why you have your cousin’s old clothes…” she trailed off as she glanced sideways at Harry, who looked extremely uncomfortable.

“But I won’t pry more, I’ll wait for you to tell me about it when you’re ready.” She added and in the corner of her eye, she saw Harry relax and smile.

“Thanks, Cassy.” 

The Great Hall was already buzzing with mostly older students, who either talked between each other or pored over homeworks, and owls flying in and out from the open windows on the ceiling. 

Cassy and Harry occupied their usual end of the table and started serving themselves, when two screeches caught their attention. Harry looked up to see Artemis and Hedwig flying in their direction and dropping their mail once they were above them before landing on the bench next to them.

Cassy untied her copy of the  _ Daily Prophet  _ from Artemis’ leg before offering her a piece of bacon. The owl cooed softly before nibbling at it thankfully. Opposite from her, Harry was reading a letter.

“What did you get?” Cassy asked before taking a bite of toast and scrambled eggs. 

“A letter from Hagrid,” he put down the letter to butter up his toast “he’s invited me to his hut for tea sometime next week, wanna come? We could invite Draco too, I’m sure Hagrid won’t mind a bit more company.”

Cassy nodded “Sure!” 

“Thank you both for waiting,” Draco’s sarcastic voice came from behind them “really, you shouldn’t have!”

“”Am I dreaming? Draco Malfoy is up before nine o’clock on a Saturday morning?” Cassy commented, pretending to be shocked and both her and Harry laughed when Draco flipped them off as he sat beside Harry.

“I made a special exception.” her twin replied haughtily “I wouldn’t miss Harry’s tryout for the world! Speaking of which, how are you feeling Harry?” Draco smiled as he grabbed a slice of toast from the tray.

“A bit nervous, but I think I’m gonna be fine.” Harry smiled “Cassy thinks I have nothing to worry about.”

“I stand by my statement” Cassy smirked from behind the tea cup. Her eyes then fell on the first page of the newspaper. “Merlin’s beard!” she gasped “Look, someone broke into Gringotts!”

“What? But that’s impossible!” Draco and Harry leaned forward to take a better look at the article as Cassy adjusted the newspaper so that everyone would be able to read it.

There, on the first page, the title of the article was written in bold capital letters.

**_GRINGOTTS_** **_BREAK-IN LATEST_**

_ Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. _

_ Gringotts’ goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. _

_ “But we’re not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what’s good for you,” said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon. _

“How’s that even possible?” Draco asked “Isn’t Gringotts basically impossible to break into? Father said that the vaults are protected by powerful magic.”

“That’s what Hagrid said as well.” Harry frowned “He also said that it’s the safest place in the world besides Hogwarts…” he trailed off, rereading the article again when something caught his attention.

“Wait a minute, 31 July! I was there that day and it also states here that the vault had been emptied earlier the same day!” Harry pointed out to his friends. Cassy gave him a questioning look.

“I don’t think I see any connection between you being there and the break in, Harry.”

Harry signalled them to scoot closer and the four of them loomed closer on the article. 

“Well, the thing is that I might know which vault the article’s talking about,” he started. “I was there with Hagrid that day and after we visited my vault, we went to vault seven hundred and thirteen where he got this tiny parcel. He said that Dumbledore commissioned him to retrieve it. What if it’s that one?”

Cassy frowned, picking up the newspaper again. What if Harry was right? And what could be so important that Dumbledore sent Hagrid to retrieve it from the safest place in Wizarding Britain?

At the same time, Draco mulled over what his best friend had just revealed, as he took a bite off his toast. Then it hit him.

“Harry, the third floor corridor!” he exclaimed and Harry’s eyes widened as he connected the dots.

Cassy looked between her twin and Harry, giving them a questioning look. “Am I missing something?”

“Should we tell her?” Draco asked Harry, who nodded after hesitating. “Okay so, Stupid Weasley challenged us to a duel at midnight in the Trophy Room but never showed up, that loser.” he snorted.

“You were out after curfew? Are you out of your mind? That could’ve cost us so many house points!” Cassy gave him a look.

Draco rolled his eyes and continued “Anyway, while we were there, we ran into Peeves and he started shouting, alerting Filch. At that point we escaped while he ran after us with that blasted cat in tow and somehow we found ourselves in the third floor corridor. The cat was still after us so we hid in the first room we found and well…”

Cassy looked at them expectantly.

“There’s a three headed dog on the third floor corridor and Draco saw that it was standing on a trap door. I believe that whatever it is guarding it has to do with the break in and Hagrid knows something about it.” Harry finished and Draco nodded at his friend’s conclusion.

Cassy gaped at them for a moment “Who in their right mind puts a bloody three headed dog in a school full of children?!” she said after a pause before turning to Harry. “Tell Hagrid we’re visiting this afternoon. I think we ought to see him as soon as possible.”

Harry nodded and quickly wrote on the back of Hagrid’s letter. He had just sent Hedwig back with his reply when Marcus Flint walked up to them.

“Potter, grab your broom. It’s time to go.” he nodded towards the exit.

“Oh, sure.” Harry stood up and picked up his Nimbus 2000 and the trio hurried after Flint.

*****

When they reached the Quidditch Pitch, the rest of the Slytherin team was already there, standing in a half circle with a trunk in the middle. By the constant rattling and muffled noises coming from it, Cassy guessed that it was where the Bludgers were kept, along with the Quaffle and the Snitch.

“Alright, let’s cut to the chase right away.” Marcus stopped abruptly not too far from the teams and crossed his arms “Get the Snitch in less than ten minutes. Let’s see if you’re really worth Snape’s recommendation. I suppose Malfoy here told you everything about Quidditch?” 

Harry simply nodded and prepared himself to take off.

Without much further ado, Marcus walked up to the trunk and opened it. He then opened a little compartment bearing the school crest and the tiny, golden winged ball that was the Snitch sprinted out, quickly disappearing from untrained eyes.

Harry didn’t delay his take off and was soon zooming after the Snitch. After diving and looping between the stands, Cassy saw him catch the Snitch by the Ravenclaw stands. Behind her, the rest of the team was impressed and congratulated him when he landed near them.

“Way to go, Potter!”

“That was an amazing dive.”

Harry already had the approval of the rest of the team, it was only up to Marcus to have the final say. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

Marcus frowned and after a while he announced “Keep flying like that when the season starts and we’ll be keeping the Quidditch Cup for another year.”

Draco and Cassy ran up to Harry and enclosed him in a group hug, jumping and cheering. Harry was then introduced to the rest of the team.

Except for Gemma, who played as Beater, everyone else were new faces. Marcus Flint was the team Captain and played as a Chaser, along with Adrian Pucey and Seth Walsham, then there were Terrence Higgs who played Beater with Gemma, and Miles Bletchley as Keeper.

Later that day in the afternoon, the four friends made their way to Hagrid’s Hut. The smoke coming from the chimney signalled the presence of the giant.

When Harry knocked on the door, a large dog began barking from the other side. “as Hagrid’s voice bellowed over it “ _ Back,  _ Fang. –  _ Back.”  _

The door opened just enough for Hagrid’s beardy face to peek through. “Hang on.  _ Back,  _ Fang.” he said before opening the door further as he held onto the collar of the largest black boarhound Cassy had ever seen. Hagrid invited them in.

Hagrid’s Hut was nothing more than a round single room with furniture and objects, which Cassy suspected had been magically enlarged, and a large fireplace, where a large teapot the size of a watering can rested above a roaring fire.

“Make yerselves at home.” Hagrid said as he closed the door. He then let go of Fang, who beelined towards Draco and started drooling on his trousers. Draco looked like he was about to cry and Cassy couldn’t help but snicker at her twin’s misfortune, earning a heated glare from him.

Harry started introducing them. “Hagrid these are my friends, Cassy and Draco.”

Hagrid looked up from the whistling teapot and looked at the twins “Malfoy, eh? Never thought I’d see a Malfoy in me house. Yeh look a lot like your parents when they were your age.”

A corner of Cassy’s mouth lifted in a small fond smile at Hagrid’s words. “Did you personally know them?” she asked.

“Wouldn’ say so, no. Never bin the sorta people they would hang with...” 

There was a sort of awkward silence which, thankfully, Harry broke by starting to tell Hagrid about their first weeks at Hogwarts. He served them tea and a batch of rock cakes which had Cassy wonder if they really were literal rocks charmed to look like cakes.

After a while, Harry was the first to bring up the break-in and what could possibly be at Hogwarts at that moment.

“Hagrid do you know anything about what was inside vault seven hundred and thirteen? You did say that it was Dumbledore who was asking for it. Could it be in the corridor on the third floor right now?”

Hagrid dropped his rock cake, which fell on the table with a loud thud, making the four first years startle.

“ ‘Course not! Musta bin a coincidence!” Hagrid stumbled, his voice hitched in an odd way “Now don’t go snoopin’ around’ where yeh shouldn’, an’ stay away from tha’ corridor.’” He warned them. Cassy narrowed her eyes as the first suspicions began forming into the back of her mind.

Not much later, as the group was making their way up to the castle, Cassy was still mulling over Hagrid’s reaction.

“You okay there, Cass?” Draco asked when he noticed that Cassy had stopped on her tracks.

“I have a feeling that Hagrid knows more than he lets on.” 

“I had the same feeling,” Harry nodded, “I say we need to keep an eye on that corridor. Whatever was in that vault, it’s in the castle on the third floor and someone will definitely come looking for it.”


	7. THE HALLOWEEN ACCIDENT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! i have to be honest with you i almost forgot to update hahah i keep losing track of days lately oops anyway here we are with the last chapter for this week and I really hope you'll enjoy it. I feel like I need to make just one thing clear which is unless I give you a heads up and/or specify it at the very start of the chapter, there will be no variation of POVs of this story :) with that being said, I'll see you next week, as always feel free to comment!

30th October, 1991

Hogwarts

It hadn’t taken long for Cassy to fall in a sort of routine at Hogwarts. After classes she would either spend time in the Library studying with Hermione, Draco and Harry, who joined them whenever he didn’t have training, or walking around the castle, exploring, and noticing how especially around the third floor corridor, there was always a faint smell of garlic but she had just ruled it off as the smell sticking on her clothes from Defence lessons.

She found that she loathed Flying lessons. Less for the fact that the cold, Scottish weather was creeping on them, and more for the fact that she had to deal with the stupidity of a certain Gryffindor, who took to freely talk behind Harry’s back since he’d been exempted from the lesson, due to the simple fact that he was already on the house team.

That morning during her spare time, after having sent Artemis home with the weekly letter for her mother, Cassy found herself lingering around the forbidden corridor. Carefully, she peered around the corner, hoping not to find any professor patrolling the area in front of the door that Draco and Harry had told her about. 

She was surprised to see Professor Quirrell standing in front of the door. From where she was, Cassy could see him inspecting the door closely and, judging from his moving lips, murmuring something to himself. She tried to peek further but her body petrified with a jolt when she felt a firm grip on her shoulder. She turned slowly and paled when she saw Snape.

Without a word, he signalled her to follow him.

Cassy followed him into his office and once they were inside, Snape told her to close the door. He then gestured toward the wooden chair in front of his desk.

“Please take a seat, Miss Malfoy.”

Cassy swallowed dry and stiffly went to sit on the chair.

“Now, care to tell me what you were doing near the corridor on the third floor – which, if I remember well, the Headmaster had clearly stated that it was a restricted area and therefore no students are allowed to enter?” He stared at her intently, which made Cassy feel odd.

“I… Well, I…” Cassy felt like she was clutching at straws trying to find a valid motivation that could convince her Head of House. She opted to tell him a half truth. “I was just returning from the owlery, Professor. I just happened to pass by there.” Cassy could see that Snape wasn’t having it.

“You just _happened_ to pass by… don’t try to lie to me, Miss Malfoy, because I will find out eventually.” Snape narrowed his eyes. “You know I don’t take pleasure in taking points from my own House, so it would be in your best interest to tell me the truth.”

Cassy felt cornered and she absolutely hated it. Surely Snape won’t take seriously the assumptions of a first year about a corridor that she wasn’t even supposed to be concerned about. Or maybe if she told him, the professors could take more precautions. She took a deep breath. 

“I have reason to believe that,” she hesitated “whatever is on the third floor, it is the same object that’s been withdrawn from the Gringotts vault that’s been broken into in July.” Snape stared at her attentively.

“And since there’s a chance that whoever was after it, might try to come for it again, it was suspicious to see Professor Quirrell there, sir.”

A corner of Snape’s mouth twitched at the mention of Quirrell’s name. He then joined his hand and frowned pensively. “Miss Malfoy, while I find your sudden suspects quite intriguing, I shall _ask_ you not to delve into affairs that do not concern eleven year olds.” Snape said in a tone that wasn’t accepting protests. “Moreover, do not let me catch you or one of your friends around that corridor again, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.” Cassy nodded defeatedly before being dismissed.

Later that evening Cassy was sitting at one of the many tables around the Common Room with Tracey, both of them working on their Charms essays, when Draco and Harry stormed up to her.

“Cass, you won’t believe who we saw–” Draco interrupted himself when he noticed Tracey “Hi, Tracey. I have to steal my twin for a moment.”

“I’ll be right back.” Cassy stood up and followed the boys to their dorm. Once they were inside, they sat on Draco’s bed after drawing the bed curtains and casting a Silencing Charm.

“It’s about the corridor isn’t it?” she asked once they were settled.

Draco nodded “We saw Quirell lurking in the area. He was touching the door and muttering to himself, he’s suspicious.”

“Not to mention the fact that he quite literally gives a headache everytime I’m in his class” Harry added.

Cassy frowned “Well, I’m sure that the constant garlic smell and stuttering would give anyone a headache.”

“Also, I saw him too this morning on the third floor but then Snape found me – but he didn’t give detention or took house points, he just admonished me.” she added hastily when the boys gaped at her.

“You didn’t tell him anything, did you?” Draco asked. When Cassy grimaced, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration “Why on earth did you do that?!”

“Snape’s not a dimwit, Draco. We should trust him.” Cassy glared “Besides, this could help them protect whatever’s in that room beside the dog better.”

Draco scoffed “Believe me, Cass. No one could get past that three headed dog without losing any limb.”

After leaving the boys’ dorm, Cassy went back to Tracey still feeling uneasy about the situation.

*****

31st October, 1991

Hogwarts

On Halloween morning, the whole school was jittery with excitement in anticipation for the grand Feast that would be held that evening. The smell of baking pies followed the Slytherins as they made their way to Charms, causing Vince and Greg to be particularly chattier than their daily selves.

The Slytherins filed their way into the classroom, bitterly noticing how, this time, the Gryffindors had arrived first to lesson.

Flitwick walked into the room as the bell rang and after completing the roll call, he asked them to hand in their essays. Shortly after, the lesson began.

Professor Flitwick dedicated a good half an hour explaining the Levitation Charm in every detail, from the effects and the limitations of the spell to its exceptions. The other half an hour was for practice.

The professor started by demonstrating the correct wand motion and enunciation of the spell, having the whole class repeat after him various times and soon the classroom became noisy as they tried levitating a feather. Hermione was the first in the entire class to get the spell right as her feather lifted in the air. 

“Well done, Miss Granger! Have ten points.” Flitwick squeaked enthusiastically.

Hermione smiled when she met Cassy’s eyes and the blonde girl smiled back before noticing a rather grumpy Ron Weasley next to her friend.

Once the lesson was over, the students started heading towards the Great Hall for lunch. 

Cassy was walking behind a group of Gryffindors when she heard Ron talk to his friends.

“It’s _LeviOsa_ not _LeviosAr._ ” he said mockingly. “Honestly, no wonder no one in our house likes her. She’s such an obnoxious know-it-all!”

Before Cassy could call out the Gryffindor boy, Hermione quickly ran past them, almost bumping into Ron’s group. Cassy wanted to run after her but Pansy joined her and started gossiping.

Cassy felt uneasy the whole day, as she hadn’t seen Hermione anywhere. When Dinner time came around, she quietly joined her housemates on their way to the Halloween Feast and as they made their way to their table, Cassy threw a look at Gryffindor’s table, hoping she’d spot Hermione’s bushy hair.

“I’ll be right with you.” She told Harry when she failed to see the Gryffindor girl among her housemates and briskly made her way to their table.

When she got there, everyone looked at her weirdly. She shook off the feeling and turned to Neville.

“Hey, Neville. Have you seen Hermione at all today?” she asked.

“No, I don’t think I’ve seen her after Charms. Sorry” he looked at her apologetically. Cassy nodded and returned to the Slytherin table.

Though the tables were full of delicious dishes, Cassy couldn’t bring herself to eat much and when the others noticed her continuously stabbing the piece of roasted chicken, only then she had to explain her worries.

“I heard her crying inside the girls bathroom near the dungeons today.” said Daphne.

“When?” Harry asked.

But before Daphne could reply, the doors of the Great Hall slung open and Professor Quirrell ran down the Hall shouting about a troll in the dungeons, before collapsing on the floor. Right on cue, a loud thunder echoed from the enchanted ceiling, sending the entire student body in a frightened panic.

A loud bang came from Dumbledore’s wand as he tried to get everyone to calm down. “Prefects, lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!” his voice echoed.

“Has he gone mad?!” Blaise shrieked “Our dormitories _are_ in the dungeons!”

“First years, follow me! Quickly now!” Gemma and Damien quickly started gathering the first years before joining the river of students trying to make their way out of the Great Hall.

Following their house to the dungeons, Cassy felt her arm getting yanked to the side. It was Harry and he had Draco in tow as well. 

“Hermione doesn’t know! We have to get to her!” he said as they slipped through into the corridor of the girls bathroom, unnoticed.

They quickly made their way down the empty corridor and the trio stopped abruptly as the stench of the troll hit them.

“We must be close.” Cassy covered both her nose and mouth, trying no to gag at the horrid smell.

As soon as they rounded the corner, they heard Hermione’s scream come from the open bathroom door and rushed to it. Hermione was crouching under one of the sinks, cornered by the troll. 

“Help me!” she screamed as she nearly avoided getting smashed by the troll, who was swinging and smashing the sinks with its club. The trio moved quickly and dispersed.

Draco started throwing debris at the troll, distracting it from Harry as he rushed to Hermione; Cassy tried to hit it with a Stinging Hex, cursing under her breath when the spell did nothing to it but make it all the more angrier.

“Cassy! Get away from there!” 

“Cass watch out!”

Draco and Harry had shouted together when the troll swung the club over its head, preparing to smash Cassy. She had to think fast and cast the first spell that came to her mind.

“ _Wingardium Leviosa!_ ” she roared, pointing her wand at the spiked club and it slipped from the troll’s grip, hovering over its head. Just as the troll was looking up, Cassy let go and the club fell heavily on its head with a sickening crack. 

The troll swayed and before it could fall on Cassy, Draco rushed to yank her away from her spot and the creature collapsed, knocked out, making the floor shake. They all caught their breaths, steadily grouping up around Hermione.

“Are you okay?” Cassy asked.

Hermione coughed and dusted her skirt before nodding. Cassy frowned at the sight of her puffy eyes. She was about to ask her what had happened when the sound of multiple approaching footsteps caught their attention to the entrance.

Professor McGonagall stopped in front of the doorway, quickly assessing the situation, followed by Professor Snape and Professor Quirrell in tow.

“Oh d-dear!” Quirrell stuttered when he saw the Mountain Troll passed out on the floor.

“What are the lot of you doing here?” McGonagall snapped when she saw the group.

“Care to explain to me, why you aren’t with your respective houses?” Snape asked sternly, scanning their faces.

“Well, professor, we hadn’t seen Hermione at dinner and we were worried so we came looking for her.” Harry explained as Draco and Cassy nodded.

“Why weren’t you at the Feast, Miss Granger?” McGonagall asked her.

Hermione bit her lip, thinking about something before straightening up. “I wanted to see if I couldn’t take on the mountain troll by myself, professor. Harry, Draco and Cassy came looking for me and, well,” she paused, swallowing dry “I would be dead by now if it weren’t for them.” she said, giving them a look at them as if apologising and thanking them at the same time.

McGonagall frowned “Well, then –” she hesitated. “That was very irresponsible of you, Miss Granger. No one in their right mind would think to face a Mountain Troll alone, I’m taking five points from Gryffindor for this.” she tutted as Hermione shrunk into herself, mortified. “Come now, you best rejoin your housemate.”

Hermione quickly mouthed “Thank you” to her friends before she followed McGonagall out the bathroom. It was just the three of them, Snape and Quirrell now. The latter was still hunching behind the Potions Master as if cowering from the troll.

“As much as I’m disappointed in you three for disobeying the Headmaster’s orders in such a Gryffindor way,” Snape began “I’m rather impressed. Not a lot of wizards face a Mountain Troll and get out of it unscathed, let alone a bunch of first year students.” He looked at each of them with a faint smirk on his face.

“Five points each for this,” the trio looked up and smiled before Snape quickly added “mind you, I’m making an exception. Do not let me catch you wandering about when you’re not supposed to again.”

“Yes, sir.” they nodded and hastily left the bathroom when Snape dismissed them with a quick nod towards the door. Behind them, Snape quickly seized the troll with an Incarcerous Spell before following the trio back to the dungeons, leaving a terrified Quirrell to deal with it.

Back in the Common Room, the trio sat in a corner, quietly talking among themselves.

“Isn’t it weird?” Cassy started “How Quirrell was acting, I mean.”

“What’d you mean by that?” Draco gave her a questioning look “It’s no surprise he was so terrified, that man is scared of his own shadow.”

“That’s exactly my point.” Cassy raised her eyebrows pointedly “Why would someone who had to deal with the Dark Arts and Dark Creatures be scared of them? Also, how did it even get inside? I think he’s hiding something.”

Harry frowned “What if,” he started “what if it was all a farce? We all saw him around the third floor corridor, right?” The twins nodded.

“Well, what if he was the one who let the troll loose in the castle? He could’ve easily gone to the Forbidden Corridor and try to get past the three headed dog while everyone was after the troll.” 

Harry’s reasoning was scarily flawless. Cassy had come to a resolution.

“We need to tell someone.”

“But not Snape.” Draco added and Cassy frowned.

“Whyever not?”

Harry sighed, knowing that a bickering round between the twins was about to start.

“Well, for starters, they’re colleagues. What if Snape tells him everything?”

Cassy gaped at her twin “You really think he would sit around and gossip with his colleagues? Snape, of all people?” she said after a pause.

“Maybe not, but I still can’t trust him fully.” Draco retorted.

Cassy scowled slightly before she huffed. “Fine, who would you have in mind then.”

“Why, Hagrid of course.” Draco smirked smugly. 

Resigned, Cassy shook her head, remembering how the giant had dismissed them when they first visited him.


	8. CHRISTMAS, ALCHEMY AND HARRY’S DISCOVERIES

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas everyone! I'm so sorry I've been MIA since early October but I was going through A LOT and also had to deal with severe writing burnout that's still going on – BUT I did have the Christmas chapter ready so I thought I'd give you all a little present. I don't know when the next chapter will be ready and I'm very sorry about that, I'll try to get back on schedule as soon as this little crisis of mine will allow me. Until then, I'm asking you to be patient in case you're still following this series c:
> 
> With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, comments are always appreciated! ♡

9th December, 1991

Hogwarts

On a Monday morning, Cassy and Tracey walked into the Common Room to find a fairly large group of people, mostly older students, in front of the Notice Board.

“What’s going on?” Cassy asked Gemma, when she came out from the crowd.

“Hello girls,” she smiled “It’s a list for Slytherins who want to stay at Hogwarts during Christmas Break.”

“I see, so you’re staying here then?” Cassy asked. They had to wait for the crowd to skim out, to be able to see that week’s new password, so they might as well stop for a chat.

Gemma nodded, sighing “Yeah, I have my OWLs this year so I thought it would do me good to stay here and study.”

“You sure are busy, Gemma.” Cassy raised her eyebrows “You’re a Beater on the Quidditch team, you’re a Prefect and on top of that you have OWLs! How do you manage to stay sane?”

Gemma snorted before breaking into a hearty laughter “Honestly?” she asked, Cassy nodded. “I have no idea. I guess that if you put your mind into what you do, you’ll succeed eventually.” she smiled, before excusing herself and making her way out the Common Room

While still waiting for the crowd to disperse, Draco joined them. He was carrying his bag as well as Harry’s.

“Have you seen Harry?” he asked, putting down the bags.

“We haven’t, why? Also, why are you carrying his bag?” Tracey looked at him funnily.

“Well, in case I find him because he wasn’t there when I woke up – oh, there he is!” Draco nodded towards the group in front of the Notice Board, where Harry was ducking moving out of the way of the other students. “Harry, where have you been?” Draco asked when Harry joined them.

“Er, I was here in the Common Room. I just put my name on the list.”

“You’re not going home for Christmas?” Cassy gave him a questioning look.

Harry blushed and scratched the back of his neck awkwardly “No, my uh… relatives wanted me to stay here. Plus I’m fine with spending Christmas alone for the first time.” he added after a pause.

“We could stay here with you, if you want… or you could come home with us! I could owl Mother and ask her right away, I’m sure she would be pleased to have you.” Draco suggested, which Harry politely declined.

Cassy pressed her lips in a thin line. There was something about Harry’s family that didn’t sit right with her. First the hand me downs from his cousin, now him not spending christmas with his family. She had said that she’d wait for Harry to talk to her first but at this point it couldn’t wait anymore. She made a mental note to talk to Harry on their first break.

In the meantime, Theo had joined them and the five Slytherins headed out to the Great Hall for breakfast.

*****

Later that same day, after their last class, Cassy asked Harry if they could talk for a moment and led him to an empty corridor that overlooked one of the inner courtyards.

“I know I said I’d wait for you to talk to me about it,” she started “but can I ask you about your family? Usually Christmas should be spent with your family…”

Harry didn’t reply at first, he just leaned on the window sill and looked outside, where a group of older students were engaging in a snowball fight.

“They don’t like me much,” he started after a moment of silence “from the moment they found me on their doorstep, they never treated me like I’m part of the family, nor considered me as such. Not even my maternal Aunt.”

Cassy stood beside him, silently watching out of the window. Snow had started falling again.

“They never told me how my parents really died, you know? Always said they died in a car accident but apart from that they never talk much about them. And if they did it was to insult them, especially my father.”

“That’s horrible, Harry.” Cassy frowned “Your parents bravely fought You-Know-Who and you’re the most famous wizard of our generation. I still don’t understand how you ended up growing up with Muggles, surely your parents had named possible tutors in case something happened to them?”

Harry shrugged, he still refused to meet her eyes “Probably, I don’t know. Hagrid said that Dumbledore thought it would be best for my safety to stay with the Dursleys. That’s why I don’t like him very much.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that, Harry.” Cassy said when the silence became unbearable “I really don’t know what to say.”

Harry finally turned to look at her and smiled “It’s okay, Cassy. You don’t have to say anything. I never really had any friends before Hogwarts, you know?” he added after a pause.

“Mostly because of my cousin. He and his friends liked to...er, scare away anyone who came close to me. That’s why I was very happy when you and Draco saw me as your friend.”

Cassy stared at her friend for a brief moment and gave him a warm smile “We’ll always be your friends, you know that. Hermione and Neville, too. Speaking of which, we should join them at the Library if we want to avoid pissing off Draco for abandoning him.”

Harry chuckled and the two made their way to the Library.

*****

23rd December, 1991

Hogwarts Express

“I should be happy we’re finally going home for Christmas,” Draco started, looking up from the match of Exploding Snap he was playing with Theo “but I feel bad for leaving Harry alone at Hogwarts.”

“I tried to convince him to come with us but he wouldn’t change his mind.” Cassy drawled as she looked at the snowy scenery quickly passing by out the window.

“I hope he’ll keep out of trouble,” Hermione made a face “because Ron and his brothers were all staying too. I really hope he won’t be targeted by the twins, quite the pranksters those two.”

“Well, knowing our Harry,” Theo scoffed, “he could give those two a run for their money – not that you’re not on the same level, Draco.”

The twins had occupied a compartment with Hermione and Neville at first, before Tracey and Theo decided to join them as well. While Theo and Draco were busy playing Exploding Snap, Tracey and Hermione started making origami birds and charmed them to fly around their compartment. Neville on the other hand, was immersed in a Herbology tome.

Around noon, the Trolley Witch came by their compartment and they bought their lunch, and some sweets for the afternoon. After lunch, the corridor of the train became noisy with chatter and laughter as students started moving around. At some point in the afternoon, Blaise, Daphne and Pansy came to hang out with them for almost the rest of the trip back to London.

When the train finally pulled into King’s Cross around Six in the evening, the first years gathered their belongings and made their way off the train. With the platform being less crowded than it was at the start of September, the twins quickly spotted their mother. They quickly waved goodbye to their friends, Hermione even asked them to keep searching on Nicholas Flamel, and briskly made their way to Narcissa, who welcomed them with open arms.

“My angels, I’ve missed you so much.” She smiled, cupping their cheeks with her gloved, yet warm hands “How was the first term?”

“It was alright, Mother.” Draco beamed as Narcissa stood up again and started leading them to the Apparition point.

“I’m sure it was, sweetheart. Let’s hurry up now, we’ll have time to catch up on everything once we’re home.

*****

25th December, 1991

Malfoy Manor

On Christmas morning, Cassy was woken up by Draco barging into her room and jumping on her bed.

“Wake up! It’s Christmas!” he shouted, earning a pillow in his face.

Cassy sat up. “ _ Tempus _ ” she muttered and scowled at her twin when she read the time. “I hate you, you know that?”

Draco smirked “You know you don’t mean it, Cass. Come on, Mother and Father are both waiting for us in the lounge.” he added after avoiding yet another pillow.

Cassy stretched and got out of her bed, reaching for her dressing gown and heading out the door after Draco. They briskly made their way to the Lounge Room where both Narcissa and Lucius were already sitting on their armchairs, waiting for them, in front of the huge fireplace.

Narcissa had once again outdone herself in decorating the Lounge Room. A large pile of presents laid at the feet of a towering Christmas tree near the windows, decorated with white tinsel charmed to look like snow and living Fairies that made it glisten. Various evergreen and holly garlands decorated the walls and the mantel on the fireplace as well as a wreath made of poinsettias.

“Merry Christmas, Father. Merry Christmas, Mother.” they said at the same time.

Narcissa smiled at them, “Merry Christmas, dears.”

“Merry Christmas, children.” Lucius nodded with a faint smile on his lips.

The twins walked up to their parents, each receiving separated gifts from both of them. From her Father, Cassy had received a silver, pearl-encrusted brooch depicting a peacock, with a small emerald for its eye. After thanking her father, Cassy opened the present from her mother. She gaped at it before looking at Narcissa, who smiled warmly.

It was a necklace. A moonstone encased in a delicate silver crescent moon. It was the same as Mother’s.

“It’s a locket, you see.” her mother gestured for her to come closer before taking it out of the box. The moonstone opened and inside there were two tiny moving pictures, with Draco on the left side and Narcissa on the right side.

Cassy smiled first at the pictures who were smiling back at her, then at her mother as she closed the locket, clutching it close to her chest. “Thank you, Mother.”

Narcissa nodded “Now, I believe the two of you have more presents that are waiting for you.” she chuckled lightly as she watched them dive into their piles.

Cassy was pleased to see that most of them came from their friends – even Greg and Vince had gotten them something. Among her favourite presents she had gotten were a beautiful writing kit with a swan feather quill from Hermione, a book on Japanese culture from Tracey, and a copy of  _ Jinxes for the Jinxed  _ from Harry. 

Cassy looked over to her twin, who was busy inspecting the contents of the boxes of sweets and mini desserts that Greg and Vince had sent them.

“Pretty neat stuff,” Draco shrugged, before selecting a macaron from the box and taking a bite “Harry got me this scarf of the Falmouth Falcons.” he adjusted said scarf around his neck with a flourish.

“That’s pretty neat indeed.” Cassy smirked, knowing her sibling’s obsessions for the Quidditch team.

*****

After the lavish dinner prepared by the house elves, the Malfoys retired in the drawing room for the afternoon. As Draco challenged their Mother to a game of wizarding chess, and their Father already immersed in his copy of the Prophet on an armchair by the bookshelf, Cassy found herself scanning the massive family library. She had not forgotten about their little holiday assignment.

The massive bookshelves occupied the entire southern wall of the room, floor to ceiling, full of books ranging from Healing Magic to advanced potions volumes. Cassy knew they also had another bookshelf similar to this one, containing books on more obscure magic and, most definitely, the Dark Arts, but it was secluded behind the locked doors of the library on the second floor.

Cassy spotted a copy of  _ Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century  _ and took it with her on the armchair next to her father, hoping to find any information on Nicholas Flamel. She was searching for his name on the index when Lucius spoke up.

“Tell me, Cassiopeia,” he started, closing the newspaper and folding it to its original state, “have you and Draco found any notable acquaintances at school? If I recall well, I noted some familiar names among your piles of presents.” 

Cassy closed the book and looked at her father warily, a knot that formed in her stomach as she realised where her father was leading the discussion.

“Yes, Father. Both Draco and I have kept in company with the children of your…  _ associates _ . I find them to be quite easy to have around.”

“Good, do keep them close, Cassiopeia,” Lucius nodded approvingly but the discussion was far from being over, “yet I feel like you’re leaving some names unmentioned, is that right?”

Cassy hesitated “Y-yes, well, Tracey Davis is another Slytherin in our year, Father. She’s a halfblood…” she trailed off.

“Ah, yes. Davis. I remember this name, if my memory doesn’t betray me, her father was a Slytherin a year below me. Quite a talented wizard, but I remember him being quite neutral. I never heard from him again after graduating.” he mused.

“Tracey told me he went to Japan to study both wizarding and muggle cultures there and then uhm, he met Tracey’s mother.”

Her father made a face and muttered “Pity we don’t share the same choice in spouses. Tell me, how did you come to befriend the Boy Who Lived? I was quite surprised to hear he was sorted into Slytherin considering the history of his family.”

Cassy threw a quick glance at Draco, and found that both her twin and mother were listening in on their exchange. Cassy quietly cleared her throat, fighting the urge to point out that Harry hated such titles.

“We actually met him at Madam Malkin’s and then on the Hogwarts Express. We pretty much got on quickly. And we also met Augusta Longbottom’s grandson, Neville and another girl, Hermione Granger, she’s a Gryffindor and far more talented than her housemates.”

Lucius nodded “While I can’t really say I’m happy by the presence of Gryffindors among your social circle, do keep on good terms with Mr. Potter, it could be beneficial considering the boy’s fame in our world.”

“On the other hand, who’s this Granger girl, is she related to the potioneer Hector Dagworth-Granger?” Lucius asked.

At the mention of Hermione’s name, Cassy saw Draco pale slightly. He too feared their father’s reaction to their friendship with Hermione. She swallowed and took her time replying.

“N-no. She’s… she’s a Muggle-born, Father.” she said as quietly as possible, not daring to look at her father.

“A Muggle-born, you say.” Lucius started, his tone caused a shiver to run down Cassy’s spine. “You, Cassiopeia Dorea Malfoy, daughter of the Noble Houses of Malfoy and Black, allow a  _ filthy little Mudblood  _ to stand at your level?” he said after a long pause. His voice was cold but his words were full of spite.

“Hermione’s different, Father! She’s just as talented as us, even more brilliant than scions of old wizarding families like the Weasleys” she added after a pause, coming in defense of her friend.

Both Narcissa and Draco stood up from the couch when Lucius rose abruptly from the armchair at his daughter’s words.

“Lucius, please–” Narcissa started in an attempt to placate her husband.

“Stay out of it, Cissy.” he snapped.

Her father signaled her to come to him. Cassy started breathing raggedly, avoiding eye contact with her father but complied regardless. 

“Father–” Draco pleaded shakily. Cassy didn’t need to look at her twin to know that he was outright terrified. She could feel it in the way the energy that had bound them since birth was shifting.

“This shall serve as a lesson for you too, Draco. Have I not taught you two, who is superior to whom?” Lucius narrowed his eyes as he pointed his wand to Cassy.

Cassy could only register the looks of utter terror on her mother’s and Draco’s faces before she fell to the ground.

What she felt could only be summarised in two words. Pure. Pain. 

Unadulterated pain washed over her at an unspoken curse. She was sure she had screamed at the top of her lungs, yet she couldn’t even hear herself. It was too much, so overwhelming she could feel her consciousness slipping from her. Then her father released her and it felt like resurfacing from ice cold waters after having been underwater for too long.

There was a constant, angry ringing in her ears as the first tears began lining her cheeks.

As soon as Lucius stormed out of the room, Narcissa and Draco rushed to her side. Her mother held her, stroking her hair as she shushed her.

“Draco, dear. Watch over your sister while I go talk some sense back into your father.” Narcissa said quietly before summoning a house elf. “Dobby!”

The house elf in question appeared next to them. “What can Dobby do for Mistress Narcissa?” he asked, big green eyes darting between mother and daughter.

“Please take Draco and Cassy to her room and get them both something warm and sweet.” she said, before standing up while holding Cassy and kissing on both hers and Draco’s forehead, and storming after their father.

Draco offered her to lean on him, but Cassy weakly shook her head, preferring to hold his hand as Dobby led them to her room.

Once in there, Cassy laid in her bed with Draco beside her. Dobby had just disapparated to the kitchens only to appear again a couple of seconds later carrying a tray with two steamy cups of hot chocolate.

“Is the young masters be needing anything else?” the house elf asked. His green eyes looked even bigger in the moonlight.

“No, thanks Dobby. You can go.” Draco dismissed him and the elf disappeared again with a muffled pop.

Draco grabbed the two cups, holding out one, which she gratefully accepted. They sipped the hot beverage in silence, wallowing in the warmth it provided. 

“How are you feeling?” Draco asked after a while.

Cassy shrugged. 

“What’s so wrong about being friends with Hermione?” she asked after some more silence “Why does he fail to see that no matter our blood, we  _ all  _ possess the same Magic?”

Draco frowned “I don’t know Cassy,” he took another sip of the warm beverage “but I think it’s better if we avoid mentioning Hermione for now – at least in his presence.”

Cassy nodded before snuggling closer to her twin. A comfortable silence fell again between the two young Malfoys and the two quickly finished their hot chocolate, before falling asleep as they held each other.

*****

  
  
  


After Christmas, the twins had taken to avoid their father for the rest of their break. Luckily enough, Lucius had unconsciously made things easier for the two of them by always being away on meetings and whatnot at the Ministry. The twins still had about a week of holidays left until they had to return to Hogwarts for the start of the new term.

With their homework long finished, if they were neither in the Music Room or dedicating themselves to their interests – using both the sources from their private library and the book Harry had gifted her, Cassy had made a list of spells she’d wanted to try out while Draco would just sit beside her and pore over the copy of  _ Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare  _ that was included in the servicing kit – they could often be found in the Drawing Room.

At the moment they were sprawled on the floor with several open books. Draco muttered something about how the current view would probably give the strict Hogwarts librarian, Madam Pince, a seizure before the two of them rolled on the floor, laughing. 

Once they had recomposed themselves, they resumed their research which had turned up little to no information on Flamel. Feeling a little bummed out, the twins decided to take a break with some chocolate left from Greg and Vince’s presents. Cassy was picking through a box of Nougat Chunks when Draco gasped, looking at a Chocolate Frog Card.

“Here he is!” 

“Who?” Cassy lifted an eyebrow, scooting over to her twin, only to see him holding Dumbledore’s card “I thought you already had Dumbledore.”

“No, read here,” he pointed out the description on the back of the card “  _ ‘Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945, and for the discovery of the  _ _ twelve uses of dragon’s blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel.’ ”  _

“We’ve literally looked everywhere for a clue and you’re telling me that it was right there the whole time?” Cassy made a face before standing up and browsing their library for books on alchemy.

They came across a promising one, eventually. It explained how Flamel was the only known wizard ever to have successfully made a Philosopher Stone, and with that, the Elixir of Life, which allowed him and his wife Perenelle to live well beyond the average life expectancy in the wizarding world. How, however, it didn’t say.

But at least now they knew what Fluffy was guarding.

*****

5th January, 1992

Hogwarts

“I thought the train ride would never end,” Pansy whined as they started digging into the feast before them, “one more minute and I would’ve lost my mind.”

“Not as much as the rest of us, Pans.” Theo muttered not so discreetly from behind his goblet.

Pansy made a face and as her two friends started bickering, Cassy smirked. She had enjoyed being back home, but the return to Hogwarts was a very much welcomed event for the twins. 

Somehow, the last few days at Malfoy Manor felt weird but they couldn’t put their finger on the precise nature of that feeling.

At the end of the dinner, Cassy was mindlessly fidgeting with her necklace, lost in her thoughts, when Harry called out to her.

“Earth calling Cassy? Hey, you there?”

Cassy stared at him for a moment before finally snapping out of it “I-I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

Harry gave her a questioning look, “I was asking if you guys found anything about Flamel. I didn’t have much luck but I found other uh… interesting things in the castle.”

“Oh, actually we did and it was all thanks to a Chocolate Frog Card of Dumbledore,” she smirked, “but I’d like to wait until we meet up with Hermione so that we don’t have to repeat it.”

Harry nodded, seemingly satisfied with her reasoning.

“You on the other hand,” Cassy added, “what did you find?”

Harry’s eyes lit up “I have to show you something I got for Christmas.  _ Silver Pine _ ” he muttered before slipping into the entrance to their Common Room. 

Cassy and Draco gave each other a questioning look before following the black haired boy to the boys’ dorms.

Once inside, Harry closed the door and walked up to his trunk, before extracting what seemed to be a cloak, made of some silky, fluid-like silvery material, and when he slung it around his shoulders, neither of the twins could believe their eyes.

“Is this what I think it is?” Cassy circled her friend – or rather, his floating head, studying Harry’s now invisible body.

“If you’re thinking the same thing as me, then yes Cass, this is an Invisibility Cloak alright.” Draco nodded “This is brilliant, Harry! Who sent it to you?”

Harry shook his head “I have no idea, it came with just a note saying that it belonged to my father. It wasn’t signed though.” he added after a pause.

As Draco and Harry kept observing and plotting pranks with the cloak, Cassy couldn’t help but smile at Harry’s happiness in finally owning something that had belonged to his father. He then told them about how on Christmas night he found the oddest thing while he was exploring the Restricted Section in the Library under the Invisibility Cloak.

He said that the magical mirror had shown him not only his parents but the rest of his family too and when he went back two nights later he was discovered by Snape.

“What?! Did you get in trouble with him?” Draco looked at him worriedly.

Harry smirked and shook his head “No, or rather… he just let me off with a ‘detention’ on Boxing Day. He then explained to me what the mirror was and warned me not to go looking for it again.” he explained, air quoting the word ‘detention’. “Don’t look at me like that, it was nothing I just had to help him with a potion and in exchange we uh, talked about my mum.”

“I found something else, too and this one I think I can show you – right now if we get a move on.” Harry put his cloak back inside his trunk and closed it, before leading the twins back in the corridors again.

He led them down a dungeon corridor, towards an unused classroom and ushered them inside, before walking up to a fireplace at the other end of the room, and beckoning them to come closer.

It was dark but the only source of light came from the dying embers inside the fireplace – or at least Cassy thought so. Instead, those dying embers were very much alive as well as being egg shaped. A hissing sound made the twins stop on their tracks.

“Harry, step back from there!” Cassy hissed in a half-whisper but the boy ignored her.

Instead, Harry scooted closer to the fireplace and did something that made the twins pale. Their friend hissed back at the Ashwinder, which looked at them when Harry did so. 

“Isn’t this cool? – What’s with the faces you two are making?” Harry threw them a questioning look, cocking his head slightly on the side.

“What the heck was that, mate?” Draco frowned.

“You’re a Parselmouth?” Cassy mimicked her brother’s expression, the tone in her voice reached a higher pitch towards the end, incredulous.

“A-a what?” Harry stuttered “No, I just spoke to it in English, didn’t you guys hear me?”

“No? I-I mean yes? But that wasn’t English at all! All we heard was you hissing at the snake.” Draco threw a pointed look at the magical creature laying on the hearth.

“A Parselmouth is someone with the ability to talk to snakes, Harry – and no, it’s not a common skill to have.” Cassy added to Harry's questioning look. “Salazar Slytherin himself was a Parselmouth, as well as his descendants.”

“Could Harry be one of them?” Draco asked with an excited glint in his eyes.

“There’s no way, no but… I wouldn’t go around telling people you’re a Parselmouth if I were you, Harry” Cassy grimaced.

“What? Why?”

“Well, for starters, many people in the wizarding world consider Parseltongue to be a Dark skill to have and…” she hesitated before continuing “The last known Parselmouth was You-Know-Who.” 

After a moment of silence, the Ashwinder hissed and Harry seemed to snap from his thoughts.

“Oh, er, sorry. Guys this is Hoyau.” he gestured towards them before adding something else in Parseltongue. Cassy supposed that he was introducing them.

“This is...wicked.” Draco smirked before starting to question both Harry and, with the latter Slytherin acting as a translator, Hoyau as well.

They made it back to the Common Room merely before curfew. Once under the warm covers, Cassy stared at the dark wood ceiling of her four poster bed and let her mind roam.


End file.
